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German pianist Georg Gräwe, one of the most impeccable and imaginative improvisers in contemporary free music, made his debut recording, New Movements, in 1976, under the auspices of Free Music Production, the legendary Berlin-based organization run by Jost Gebers. At FMP's Jazz Now festival, in April of that year, Gräwe presented his working band, a classic hard-bop configuration with trumpet, saxophone, and rhythm section. Indeed, some vestiges of that hard-bop feel permeate the music, however it's been fractured and expanded in its ambitions to include post-bop, freebop, free jazz, and free improvisation, all with an overall set of structures that betray Gräwe's deep interest in contemporary classical forms. The band featured tenor and soprano saxophonist Harald Dau, matched by lithe trumpeter Horst Grabosch, and Gräwe's rhythm team is impeccable, with Hans Schneider's bass and Achim Kramer's drums. The same band hit the stage a year and a half later, again for FMP, recording Pink Pong. Even more adventurous and tightly wired, this version of Gräwe's fivesome plays more concise compositions, a total of eleven of them, spread out almost evenly amongst band members. The resulting album is one of FMP's absolute classics, simultaneously a nod at precursors like Alexander von Schlippenbach's early groups and Manfred Schoof's killer mid-sized ensembles, but also indicating a new path for a younger set of players. Steeped in a love of folks like Lennie Tristano and Steve Lacy, the band's points of reference were diverse enough to make them stand out against some of the more exclusively hard-blowing Germans of the era. First reissue since it was first available in the mid-1970s. Licensing directly from FMP, with newly remastered music direct from the original tapes, CvsD put this important piece of free music history back into circulation, throwing light on the early years of Georg Gräwe's music and expanding the picture of what FMP's vanguard mission meant. Edition of 500.
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