Erich Kleinschuster Sextett

Featuring: Charles Tolliver

Erich Kleinschuster’s projects and initiatives played a vital role in establishing a spiritual home for jazz in Vienna. The founding of his sextet in 1966 and, in 1968, a jazz department at the Vienna Conservatory, were catalysts for a scene that attracted international stars as well as nurturing the careers of home-grown virtuosos. Many jazz exiles, admired in Europe as they never were in the United States, settled for long periods, carving out new lives on the continent. The recordings in this series – many only recently discovered and presented for their first time on these vinyl editions – provide an illuminating and long overdue testament to one of the unsung forces of modern jazz in Europe.

Clifford Jordan’s Viennese sojourn produced numerous ORF studio sessions with Kleinschuster’s sextet. ‘Leavin’ Train’ – his opus to Coltrane – along with early renditions he would go on to record for Strata East Records that same year, capture Jordan at the height of his powers. The second LP in this set features Charles Tolliver, the five selections are all originals; latter-day hard bop, modal explorations that also went on to appear on Strata East releases, a label he co-founded. ‘Right Now’ was first recorded four years earlier on a 1965 Blue Note album of the same name. The date was led by Jackie McLean, who first introduced Tolliver, then 22 years old, to the Blue Note stable. Four months after this ORF date, Tolliver would go on to record his first album as leader, again featuring ‘On The Nile’, perhaps his greatest composition.