Irene Schweizer, Manfred Schoof, Barney Wilen

The idea came from the drummer. Mani Neumeier, then in Irène Schweizer's trio with Uli Trepte on bass, had studied in London with the sitarist Dewan Motihar, a pupil of Ravi Shankar. When Berendt asked him for a project, he proposed putting the two trios together, insisted on Barney Wilen, and Manfred Schoof was added on trumpet and cornet. SABA Tonstudio, Villingen, 23 October 1967. Motihar on sitar and voice, Keshav Sathe on tabla, Kusum Thakur on tambura.

Three pieces. Sun Love, seventeen minutes, written by Motihar and Neumeier, begins with tambura drone and sitar finding their way to the tabla pulse, then adds the piano trio and finally the horns. Yaad, five minutes, is Motihar singing with Schoof answering. Brigach and Ganges, by Schoof, opens in free horn and bowed bass and keeps dropping back into raga. Schweizer has said she knew nothing about Indian music beyond a few Shankar records and came at it through Coltrane and Tyner.

John Kelman at All About Jazz calls it an unqualified success, years before McLaughlin, because neither side is jazzed up or toned down. A RateYourMusic reviewer notes that within a year Neumeier and Trepte had gone off to form Guru Guru. This is the free jazz record with a sitar that people who dislike that idea end up liking.

Japanese CD edition from Solid's MPS series.