Jutta Hipp - New Faces: New Sounds From Germany (2015) Hi-Res

Incredible postwar bop recordings by one of the hippest groups in Germany! During the 50s, pianist Jutta Hipp cut a number of straighter sides for Blue Note that were recorded in the US – but this album features earlier German recordings, some later issued by Blue Note – all done with a killer quintet that features a young Joki Freund on tenor sax and Emil Mangelsdorff on alto!
Jutta's core trio features Hans Kresse on bass and Karl Sanner on drums – but the real charm of the records is the horn players – working with amazing interplay that really makes the record shine – working in unison on many of the intros to the songs, cutting back and forth like a double-edged sword, then breaking out into wonderfully compact solos that easily rival the best of the west coast at the time!
"This date, rather brief at under 28 minutes, originally appeared as a 10" LP in the U.S., although it was recorded in Frankfurt-am-Main, Germany. It features Jutta Hipp leading an all-German quintet through a session consisting mostly of American standards, including 'Variations,' an enjoyable group improvisation based on the chord changes to 'Tea for Two.' Alto saxophonist Emil Mangelsdorff has a soft, dry tone comparable to Paul Desmond, most noticeable in 'Ghost of a Chance.' Tenor saxophonist Jaki Freund's 'Cleopatra's' sound could easily be mistaken for West Coast jazz. Hipp is joined by the rhythm section only for the intriguing fugue-like treatment of 'What's New' and a brisk run through 'Don't Worry 'Bout Me.' She also wrote 'Mon Petit,' which has superb interplay between the two saxophonists. This reissue is labeled as part of the RVG series, though legendary recording engineer Rudy Van Gelder's name is never specifically listed in English anywhere in the packaging, he evidently did the remastering. Long out of print on LP and an unlikely reissue candidate for Blue Note due to its brevity and obscurity, this session was briefly available as a CD reissue through the Japanese label Toshiba-EMI, but was soon deleted."