Engelbert Wrobel, Frank Roberscheuten, and Chris Hopkins: Jammin' At The IAJRC Connection Hamburg 1999

C. Michael Bailey

Senior Contributor since 1997

...wants to know if Gene Harris is playing "Summertime" in Heaven...

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Published: August 1, 2001

Creation in situ .

This is the beauty of Jazz. As if from a dream, a multinational collection of musicians gather on the neutral ground of an international convention and are asked, on short notice to prepare and play a program. This particular group of musicians was to first meet on the bandstand. During a 15 minute Götterdammerung, they decide on a program and arrangements and then proceed to swing like they have known each other forever. This is exactly what took place at the International Association of Jazz Record Collectors convention held in Hamburg Germany in 1999. Reedists Engelbert Wrobel, Frank Roberscheuten, and pianist Chris Hopkins joined ranks to lead a band is a sometimes suprising collection of mainstream jazz standards presented in a mainstream manner. What is so stunning about this collection is the seamless telepathy with which these musicians, strangers to one another except by reputation, mix into a perfect solution of sound and swing.

Martin Williams queried once that the big nonjazz listener question was, "Where is the melody". In this jazz, lake many other performances, the melody is presented up front in the head and then each musician, in a time honored manner, steps up to say what he or she has to say about that melody by offering their own melodies. This modus operandi worked all too well on this night, much to the satisfaction of those who will purchase this performance.

Track Listing: You Do Something For Me; Can't Help Lovin' That Man; Rose Room; I Can't Get Started; Robbin's Nest; Smiles; When I Grow Too Old To Dream; Mama Inez; I Surrender Dear; You Brought A New Kind Of Love To Me; I Can't Believe That You Are In Love With Me; Candlelights; El Salon De Gutbucket. (Total Time: 70:00)

Personnel: Engelbert Wrobel: Clarinet, Tenor Saxophone, Soprano Saxophone; Frank Roberscheuten: Clarinet; Tenor Saxophone; Alto Saxophone; Chris Hopkins: Piano; Harvey Weston: Bass; Bobby Worth: Drums.

Style: Straight-ahead/Mainstream