Hans Koller with Lee Konitz & Lars Gullin - Freiburg 1956 / SWF Big Band (dir. Eddie Sauter) - Donaueschingen 1957

Here's a nice double feature centred on the late great Austrian tenor sax player, Hans Koller. He might be best known for his turn on Oscar Pettiford's great "Vienna Blues" album (Black Lion) with Attila Zoller and Jimmy Pratt, as well as for a run of fine albums on MPS spanning the 60s and early/mid 70s. Zo-Ko-So (with Lee Konitz and Martial Solal) is a stand-out, but all his MPS albums are fine!

Here he is at an earlier stage, from the days when he led the Hans Koller Quartett (with pianist Roland Kovac) as well as co-led a band with pianist Jutta Hipp (soon after to hit the USA with three fine albums on Blue Note). Koller's quartet is joined by two stellar guests, Lee Konitz and Lars Gullin, both among the finest and most individual voices on their respective instruments.

The second part features Hans Koller among the newly founded SWF Big Band of 1957, led by arranger Eddie Sauter. Among the other soloists to be heard are trumpet player Rolf Schneebiegl, trombonist Otto Bredl, Rudi Flierl on baritone, and Dave Hildinger on marimba and piano. The arrangements are quite... well, let me say the remind me of Kenton at his most bombastic... I know Sauter has his own story (about which I'm completely ignorant so far though, I've never heard anything by the Sauter-Finnegan orchestra, for instance).

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Hans Koller / Lee Konitz / Lars Gullin
SWF Jazz Session
Freiburg (Germany), Aula der Universität
January 1956

Hans Koller - tenor sax (#1,2,4-6)
Lee Konitz - alto sax (#3-6)
Lars "Lasse" Gullin - baritone sax (#2,4-6)
Willie Sanner - baritone sax (#2,4-6)
Roland Kovac - piano
Shorty Röder - bass
Rudi Sehring - drums

1. I'll Never Be the Same (5:57)
2. Oh, That Cologne (4:17)
3. I'm Getting Sentimental Over You (3:42)
4. Lover Man (4:25) [LK feature]
5. Lee-La-Lu (Kovac) 3:39 [RK feature]
*6. Zoot (Sims) 6:07


SWF Big Band
Donaueschinger Musikfestspiele
Donaueschingen (DE)
October 27, 1957

Eddie Sauter - leader, arranger
Rolf Schneebiegl, Kurt Sauter - trumpet
Otto Bredl - trombone
Hans Koller - tenor sax
Rudi Flierl - baritone sax
Dave Hildinger - piano, percussion, marimba
Blanche Birdsong - harp
Dave Moore - bass
Sperie Karas - drums
others unknown

7. Tropic of Baden-Baden (2:48)
*8. Tropic of Kommingen (4:17)
9. Loop (3:56)
*10. Kinetic Energy (2:05) [percussion feature]
*11. Dodo (Gulda) 3:04 [inc?]

TT: 44:22

Sound: A
Source: SWR2 "Jazz Session - Aus dem Archiv" / 2008-01-23
Lineage: digi-fm (MPEG1 Layer 2/320 kbs) > WAV > Cool Edit Pro > FLAC (8,asb,verify)


*) commercial relases:
#6: Delta 20828
#8,10, 11: MPS 68161 / Pausa PR7081


*** blurb from swr2.de ***

Anfang der 50er Jahre war der aus Wien stammende Tenorsaxofonist Hans Koller nach Süddeutschland übersiedelt. 1957 zog Koller sogar nach Baden-Baden, wo er Solist der von Eddie Sauter geleiteten Big Band beim Südwestfunk wurde. Kurze Zeit davor hatte Koller, der neben Albert Mangelsdorff zu den Wegbereitern des mitteleuropäischen Jazz zählte, Gelegenheit, sein Können gemeinsam mit zwei Topsolisten unter Beweis zu stellen: dem amerikanischen Altsaxofonisten Lee Konitz und dem schwedischen Baritonsaxofonisten Lars Gullin, die Koller ein sein damaliges Quintett integrierte. Auch Ausschnitte aus dem Donaueschinger Konzert der Sauter-Big-Band (1957) sind in dieser Sendung zu hören.