Hal Galper Quintet - Live at the Berlin Philharmonic, 1977 (2021)

Captured during a pivotal, trailblazing period of his five decade career, pianist Hal Galper had come off the road with the Cannonball Adderly Quintet looking to establish his new working band. Pulling in Michael & Randy Brecker, who he had recorded & worked with in the early '70s, along with bassist Wayne Dockery and drummer Bob Moses, Galper set up Sunday matinees at NY's Sweet Basil jazz club for a year to woodshed the group concept and new compositions. In the studio, 1977's 'Reach Out' displayed an astonishingly original collective, all matching Galper's chance-taking, high-spirited, free-wheeling approach to music making. 1979's 'Speak With a Single Voice' captured the energy of the quintet live, but on this 1977 Berlin Jazz Festival performance, the band shifts into an other-worldly overdrive. From the opening salvos of Galper's 'Now Here This,' the mission is defined - jazz giants, in the prime of their youth, set free to blow, pushed to the limits by Galper's facility, full-bodied sound, and fertile imagination.

Hal Galper - piano
Randy Brecker - trumpet, flugelhorn
Michael Brecker - tenor saxophone
Wayne Dockery - bass
Bob Moses - drums