CD review: Hal Galper Quintet – Live at the Berlin Philharmonic, 1977 – 2021: Video, CD cover

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.

1. Now Hear This (Live) (13:59)
2. Speak with a Single Voice (Live) (24:37)
3. I’ll Never Stop Loving You (Live) (12:57)
4. Triple Play (Live) (14:04)
5. This Is the Thing (Live) (12:33)
6. Hey Fool (Live) (9:31)

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