Wolfgang Dauner

One of the most sought-after SABA records of the late 1960s, unavailable on CD until 2008. Wolfgang Dauner, the Stuttgart pianist, leads a septet with Jean-Luc Ponty on violin, Gerd Dudek on tenor and clarinet, Eberhard Weber on cello rather than bass, Jürgen Karg on bass, and two drummers, Mani Neumeier and Fred Braceful. Dauner plays piano and prepared piano.

Five pieces: Sketch Up and Downer, Disguise, Free Action Shot, My Spanish Disguise (with Neumeier on tabla), Collage. AllMusic describes accessible melodies reminiscent of Mingus in spots that transform quickly into looser frameworks where chord structure and rhythm are abandoned, and notes that Dauner treats himself as one of the ensemble rather than its soloist. John Kelman at All About Jazz calls it challenging, not for the faint of heart, and points to what it shows about the sidemen: Ponty a long way from the fusion he became known for, Weber in a freer setting than any of his ECM records.

Dauner and Weber would go on to Output for ECM in 1970 and the United Jazz + Rock Ensemble in 1975. Neumeier was months away from forming Guru Guru. This is where that scene was in 1967.

Japanese CD edition from Solid's MPS series.