Alexander von Schlippenbach

180 gram vinyl reissue of German free improvisation pianist and composer Alexander von Schlippenbach's The Living Music, originally released on his own Quasar label in 1969. Recorded by Conny Plank, it features Peter Brötzmann (tenor & baritone saxophone), Manfred Schoof (cornet, flugelhorn), Michael Pilz (bass clarinet, baritone saxophone), Paul Rutherford (trombone), Buschi Niebergall (double bass, bass trombone) and Han Bennink (drums, percussion). The Living Music remains one of the paramount avant/free jazz records.

"...the six pieces on The Living Music explore the concepts of open spaces and collective improvisation at least as much as they do everyone-solos-at-once clatter." --All Music Guide (4/5)

"In the third week of April, 1969, pianist Alexander von Schlippenbach took a seven-piece ensemble comprised of German, Dutch and British musicians into Conny Plank's Rhenus Studio in Godorf, near Köln. When the day was over, two separate LPs had been completed. Saxophonist Peter Brötzmann used the session to record enough material by a quartet (Brötzmann, bassist Buschi Niebergall, drummer Han Bennink and pianist Fred Van Hove, the latter of whom did not appear with the Schlippenbach band) for side-two of Nipples. Earlier in the afternoon, Schlippenbach and his full band of accomplices recorded the entirety of The Living Music. Schlippenbach initially issued the album on his own Quasar label. In spirit as well as name, 'living music' was an integral part of the early years of FMP. Schlippenbach's The Living Music remains one of the most glorious, if also one of the least well known, of the label's adopted children."