Riot - Green and Blue 1977 (Germany)

This is an ecm-like album from Germany, the group did one more record in a similar style. Think Eberhard Weber but without the long-drawn-out bass solos and instrumental exuberance of Weber and sadly, not as good (sorry to disappoint you all or y'all as our friend Tom would say), though I had high hopes for this outfit. Basically an instrumental acoustic straight-up band with solo uli beckerhoff on trumpet and fluegelhorn, who writes most of the songs, the bandmembers' names are in lower case as if to emphasize the university-cool sound of this record. The others are wolfgang ekholt on drums, rainer linke on bass and andy lumpp on piano. The title of the album seems to be a reflection of Miles Davis / Bill Evans "Blue in Green" from Kind of Blue, but I may be wrong. The pianist certainly is no Bill Evans, his style almost doesn't stick in my memory at all. On the other hand, beckerhoff is outstanding with his instruments, recalling the great german master Manfred Schoof, who everyone should listen to, all his albums worth hearing (at least up until the eighties, it goes without saying, when music fell off a cliff into the abyss of mediocrity for the most part). This also definitely recalls the finnish style of ecm jazz. Cover photography is really beautiful of course.