ET CETERA (DE)

After the eponymous debut album, Wolfgang Dauner's ET CETERA returned the following year with a whole new lineup for the second album KNIRSCH, the German word for "crunch" which apparently was made clear by the combo effect of the cover art and the continued theme art inside the album spread. American percussionist Fred Braceful (soon to join Exmagma) was the only musician (other than Dauner) to appear on both ET CETERA albums. Joining the band was American guitarist Larry Coryell (Chico Hamilton, Free Spirits, Gary Burton) and British drummer Jon Hiseman (aka John Hiseman, co-founder of the jazz-rock bands Colosseum and Tempest and, later, with Wolfgang Dauner, the all-star band United Jazz + Rock Ensemble) along with bassist Günter Lenz (most prominently known for his work with Peter Herbolzheimer Rhythm Combination & Brass, a mix of big band, jazz-funk and fusion).

After the wickedly wild debut release KNIRSCH sounds downright tame with the focus much more drawn to tight jazz-fusion instrumental interplay augmented by Dauner's idiosyncratic keyboard style however it wouldn't be a proper Dauner related project without at least some experimental freakery in the works so despite a tamer sophomore release, KNIRSCH manages to squeeze in some avant-garde weirdness just because it was the early 70s after all! Stylistically KNIRSCH is a much more streamlined jazz-fusion event which in many ways is much more similar to Embryo's "Rache" album that came out in 1971 than to the first ET CETERA release, as it focuses on the same lengthy jam driven instrumental improvisation with the stealthy double percussive bombast of Braceful and Hiseman that mix and meld traditional jazz drumming with a wide range of ethnic influences such as the Indian and Arabic touches that graced the debut album.

Likewise Dauner himself behaves and correspondingly delivers the expected proper jazz-fusion responses. While the opening track "The Really Great Escape" misleads with a fuzzed out guitar driven rock and bass groove accompanied by tribal drumming patterns with Richard Ketterer joining in to provide lyrics, the following tracks completely derail this rather mainstream and rather ho hum affair. "Sun" immediately brings the jazzy touches into full context with Dauner's tinkling of the ivories evoking an early Chic Corea with the rest of the album remaining instrumental and airy as the guitar, bass and drums are placed lower in the mix than the dominant keys. "Yan" begins the three longer tracks that all hover around the ten minute mark or longer. It is by far the most experimental of the five tracks with an emphasis on the greater visionary prospects of fusing jazz and rock with electronica. This track is really the only one that resembles the debut ET CETERA album with its emphasis on experimentalism above all else.

"Turning Spread" dishes out a heavy piano driven groove but the bass and drum cannonade is on fire as a feisty funk flair begins to strut its badass stuff and all the jazz-fusion to bring some soul into its ranks. This track probably has a distinct Herbie Hancock feel with its easy to digest rhythmic flow and an almost Santana inspired percussive drive and virtuosic guitar solos of Coryell. The album ends with "Yan" which perhaps is the track that incorporates the main gist of both ET CETERA in a musical summary so to speak. While it provides the overall backdrop of jazz-fusion as its centerpiece, the track also allows healthy doses of experimental offerings. The track is graced by a strong percussive beat, spaced out keyboard, wah-wah guitar licks and drifts along rather nonchalantly as the instrumentalists find room to improvise as the groovy drive banters on ad infinitum. Dauner is off the charts with some of the more daring synthesizer nosedives as notes fluctuate high on the resister and drop without a parachute from the sky.

This was the end of the road for the ET CETERA project but a mere blip on the radar for all the musicians involved. Dauner would continue on with an endless series of collaborative efforts all throughout the 70s whereas Fred Braceful soon joined Exmagma for another two albums of psychedelic Krautrock head trips. KNIRSCH is a mixed bag and seems quite tame after the unhinged nature of the debut but still is the more unified of the two if not nearly as original as the jam aspects were fairly standard for the day as well as the style of jazz-fusion that would dominate the album, still though the musical meanderings are performed by strong competent instrumentalists who were capable of weaving magical passages of jazz-rock while allowing experimental electronic effects to incorporate themselves into mix. Personally i prefer the debut album to this one however except for the mediocre opening track, this one has a charm all its own and although not as experimental delivers with exceedingly strong instrumental prowess.

Wolfgang Dauner in his fifty year plus career has rightfully become known as Germany's greatest jazz-fusion export and one of a handful to reach the heights of international recognition. While a young Dauner began his musical journey on the piano a tender young age, later on he would actually acquire a degree at the Stuttgart Conservatory for the trumpet. With these eclectic musical talents at hand, by 1963 Wolfgang created his very first jazz band, The Wolfgang Dauner Trio after connecting with bassist Eberhard Weber and the American drummer Fred Braceful. The trio would play together through various musical incarnations well into the 70s and together they would shake up the jazz world much as Faust would do to the rock world later.

Falling into the inevitable gravitational pull of all things 60s psychedelia, Dauner married his avant-garde jazz leanings with the style du jour in the form of psychedelic rock and the emerging Krautrock scene in his native Germany on the Wolfgang Dauner Trio's 1969 album "The Oimels." With the emergence of progressive rock and the continuation of ever-increasing experimentation in the rock universe, Dauner found it fit to create a new project that could resurrect the possibilities and avant-leanings from his brief dip. This led to the re-recruitment of Fred Braceful along with Eberhard Weber along with additional percussionist Roland Wittich and the multi-instrumentalist Siegfried Schwab which resulted in a band called ET CETERA being born.

Taking a cue from the various Krautrock escape artists that were changing the music scene of the early 70s, Dauner and company composed several far out tracks that took all the inspirations of the day ranging from 60s psychedelic rock, contemporary Krautrock, Indo-raga drones and jazz-rock fusion and threw them into the melting pot. The result was the 1971 eponymously titled debut album that found yet one more strange way to take music to the utmost extremities and to sonic destinations where the listening public had never visited before. Manufacturing revolution for revolution's sake, ET CETERA set out to create music that was as trippy and unfamiliar as possible with stunning results.

Taking the instrumental prowess of Amon Duul II, the psychedelic jamming of Embryo, Indian and Arabic ethnic touches and wild avant-garde liberties, ET CETERA created a very bizarre album that had no problem fitting in with the farthest out trips of the era and by the design of some of the most talented musicians that Germany had produced in the 60s jazz underground. This album is designed to be an eclectic potpourri of ideas that meander from one extremity to the next. No other track advertises this more than the opening track "Thursday Morning Sunrise" which starts off in a rather "normal" psychedelic rock mode with fuzzed out guitar riffs, accompanying percussive drive and period keyboard charm but quickly morphs into unstructured avant-garde weirdness where freeform sonic swells capsize the melodic and rhythmic flow like a tsunami of freeform chaos hitting the structured shores.

Even weirder is the second track "Lady Blue" which is a mix of Spanish guitar in jazz mode with the spoken poetic prowess that emulated the vocal antics of Can's Malcom Mooney along with a female choir which provides a call and response as the avant-garde jazzy instrumental backdrop provides the ultimate weirdness effect. "Mellodroma 2a" is perhaps the most stable structure on board with a melodic acoustic guitar strumming and fluffy tribal drumming providing an airy retreat from the hardcore freakery that preceded. Although it has some jazzy touches here and there, remains a lightcore treat in the midst of the madness. The lengthiest track "Raga" is exactly as it advertises, namely an Indo-raga that authentically includes the sitar, swarmandal, lute, even, sarangi, tambura, psalter, flute, balafon, kalimba and more but gently morphs into more avant-garde rock territory as the track progresses before breaking out the avant-garde jazzy trumpet and freeform madness.

"Milkstreets" ends the original album with the most authentic psychedelic track which incorporates synthesized note bends simulating an outer space experience with freeform percussion and uncompromising pointillistic precision. I highly recommend the remastered CD version of this album which includes three extra bonus tracks that are as good or even better than the original tracks making this a much longer head trip. "Behind The Saga" continues the "Milkstreets" theme with off-kilter key stabs, jazzy drumming and "talking" counterpoints of who knows what! "Tau Ceti" is graced with an eerie piano arpeggio and acoustic guitar in jazz mode. It becomes spacier and spacier and then adds some ethnic touches. "Kabul," an almost nine minute track incorporates lengthy drones and slow creeping rhythmic build ups before breaking into ethnic percussive drive and augmented by fuzz guitar and Embryo type jamming with extra emphasis on freaky keyboard volume glitches.

This one is really for the hardcore Krautheads out there, those who crave the most demented and unforgiving explorative journeys. Graced by spectacularly talented musicians offering spectral insights into the strangest inner and outer journeys, ET CETERA is an acquired taste to say the least. Stringing together bizarre avant-garde modulated keyboard sequences by Dauner along with jazzy touches, Indian sitars and choruses, hypnotic bass grooves, folky passages, tribal drumming and atmospheric spaciness, this is a true treat for those who like their trips with lots of variation that include excellent musicians performing recognizable snippets of sanity surrounded by detached escapism to Planet X. ET CETERA was a rather short project that lasted only a few short years but this debut album is unique since the band moved on to a more sanctioned jazzy Krautrock approach that wasn't nearly as experimental. Granted there probably wasn't a lot more they could've done in this style but for a single album they sure let their freak flag fly high and dropped this highly eclectic slice of lysergic nirvana in the process.

ET CETERA were a German band led by keyboardist Wolfgang Dauner. An excellent lineup here on this their debut with Braceful on drums, Weber on bass and cello, Schwab on guitar and ethnic instruments and another percussionist. They released one more studio album called "Knirsch" which is an incredible album and more in the Jazz/ Fusion realm. "Knirsch" has quite a bit different lineup than the debut but it's no less impressive. The debut here is more Krautrock, experimental and ethnic sounding as in Indian/ Arabian. For my tastes "Knirsch" blows this one away.

"Thursday Morning Sunrise" starts us off in the right direction with plenty of distortion and fuzz as percussion joins in. Experimental sounding cello and synths follow and there's no melody here. A beat with bass creates a rhythm before 4 1/2 minutes then it calms right down by 6 minutes. An ethnic instrument joins in as well then that nasty fuzz returns to end it. "Lady Blue" is another experimental track that opens with piano melodies briefly as spoken words take over with picked guitar. Some female backing vocals come and go along with horns. Not a fan.

"Mellodrama No.2 A" opens with strummed guitar, drums, bass and spacey sounds. There is a melody this time and the focus is on the strummed guitar after 3 minutes. "Raga" is the longest track at over 16 minutes. This one is ethnic all the way as it trips along. The drums are more aggressive around 8 minutes then it settles right down a minute later. Eventually percussion sounds lead the way. It starts to build again after 13 minutes then avant keys take over a minute later. Another calm after 15 minutes to the end. "Milkstreets" is the experimental closer.

I have the Longhair reissue and I like all the pictures and notes they've provided. This one just didn't click with me at all while the followup did nothing but click with me. Krautrock fans need to check this one out.

With the recent passing of the great Larry Coryell, I made it a point to put on this monster of an album on in his honor the other day. This was the only Et Cetera album that he played on, but man did he leave his mark! The previous LP had the excellent German guitarist, Sigi Schwab, who injected his ethnic style into the music. Coryell, an American, brought in more of a West Coast, psychedelic, jazzrock style to Et Cetera's Kraut-jazz. Experimental German jazz keyboardist Wolfgang Dauner, of course, was the leader of Et Cetera and composed all but the opening track.

That opening track, "The Really Great Escape" is Coryell's, and it is a one of the grooviest, stoned-out tracks from that era. The song reeks of the 70's, and is sticky with resin. Some might call it dated, but I call it pure awesomeness. Coryell's guitar work is superb, and his vocals are stunning. He wasn't known for his vocal skills, but here he kills it. It is the only song to feature vocals and it really differs from the rest of the album, but the album definitely benefits from it being on there. Coryell released a different version of this song on one of his own albums, which is longer and features horns, but it does not compare to the version on Knirsch.

There rest of Knirsh is pure Dauner, and Coryell's stunning guitar work helps lift it to great heights. The rest of the band, long-time Dauner drummer/percussionist Fred Braceful, Colosseum drummer Jon Hiseman, and German jazz bassist Günter Lenz, all shine on their performances.

The second track, "Sun" is a piano driven jazz number, which also displays Coryell's jazz chops. "Yan" is the most avant-garde piece on the LP, and is devoid of structure, melody, or rhythm. There is lots of experimental noodling and noise here, parts of it reminding me of the studio disc of Pink Floyd's Ummagumma, "The Grand Vizier's Garden Party" in particular. Next up is the stellar track, "Tuning Spread," which is a nice mix of Krautrock unconventionality and jazzrock. It has an excellent groove in parts, with Jon Hiseman laying down a funky-as-hell beat. The closing cut is "Yin," which gradually builds from a quiet jazz tune to a more energetic jazzrock.

While I feel it is a stretch to call this album Krautrock, it definitely encompasses a good deal of that genre into its jazzrock cocktail. This is a great record to chill to with friends late at night, or with headphones on your own, if you prefer. I would have given this a five star rating had it not been for the track "Yan." While I can appreciate some good old experimentation in music, when it lacks any kind of structure, rhythm, or melody, and goes on past the five minute mark, I will often begin to get bored and/or annoyed. "Yan" goes on for thirteen minutes.

I highly recommend Et Cetera's Knirsch for those who are into Krautrock and/or experimental jazzrock. It does have a very early 70's vibe to it, but the experimental structures and performances keep it from sounding dated, in my opinion anyway. I give it four stars. Larry Coryell R.I.P.

It's not clear if Et Cetera was the name of the band or the album, or both. But either way here's another stunning gem from the German counterculture, in this case buried perhaps a little too deep in the seemingly bottomless Krautrock treasure chest (mine is the only review so far). The guiding light behind the project was Wolfgang Dauner, at age 36 already a veteran Jazz pianist and trumpeter, but Krautrock was never entirely a youth movement: CAN's Irmin Schmidt turned 34 the same year this album was released; CLUSTER's Hans-Joachim Roedelius was 37.

And Dauner certainly borrowed a few cues from the local kids, stretching his musical horizons outward in every direction known to physics (plus a few yet to be discovered). Only in Germany circa 1971 could you expect to find such an unlikely amalgam of ethnic-psychedelic-jazz-funk-acid-folk-rock-trance music, all tossed into a boiling stew of beautiful noise and stirred to a uniform consistency. The closest local equivalent might have been the anarchists of FAUST, reinvented as a Fusion combo but with even less obligation toward convention than usual.

The album opens not too far from a Canterbury-like sound, but in classic Krautrock fashion the music loses its grip on reality very quickly, cued by Dauner's increasingly distorted electric piano (sounding not unlike a broken Toys R Us saxophone), and by two percussionists competing to see who could bash a cymbal harder. "Lady Blue" then adds some groovy beatnik poetry to the mix ("I have seen everything / I have found everything to be everything / and everything came out very together..."), the voice heard through a maelstrom of classical guitar, choirs, echo effects, and whatever else Dauner could pack into the song's three minutes.

The tell-tale misspelling of "Mellodrama Nr.2A" hints at the pastoral beauty of the next title, adrift on an unruffled sea of mellotrons and 12-string guitars. But the rest of the album (Side Two of the original LP) is more abstract, starting with the bluntly-titled "Raga", in which the expected sitars drive an epic Oriental Kraut-Funk groove, with Dauner's warped trumpet accents recalling the comic relief French horn of kindred spirit HOLGER CZUKAY.

The epilog of "Milkstreets" is another CAN-like slice of free-form 'instant composition', but the album isn't over yet: a trio of CD bonus tracks from the original recording session adds enough quality music to fill another full side of vinyl.

Maybe Dauner should have chosen a more unique moniker for his outfit: currently three separate bands with similar names are featured on this site alone. A sophomore Et Cetera album appeared the following year, but the crazy Krautrock experimentation was (somewhat) compromised by a guest appearance by American jazz guitarist LARRY CORYELL. The debut should be the first choice for anyone on the lookout for something more bizarre and eclectic. On a personal level, it knocked my socks off with my feet still in them.

Guldbamsen recommended this album in the Krautrock thread on this site some time ago and when I saw who was part of the band I picked this cd up right away. The leader and composer of all but one track is Wolfgang Dauner a pioneer when it comes to Jazz / Fusion and experimental music in Europe. He is a keyboard player but adds electronics on this album as well. The one song he didn't compose was written by the very talented American guitarist Larry Coryell who adds his unique playing to this album. We also get bass player Gunter Lenz who's played with Volker Kriegel and many others, as well as COLOSSEUM drummer Jon Hiseman who guests on here. Fred Braceful the drummer is an American who came to Germany in the fifties with the army. He stayed and played in Jazz bands originally but tired of that and joined ET CETERA. He actually left this band when they started drifting into Jazz territory and joined EXMAGMA who played a more adventerous and avant syle. If there's anything more impressive than the lineup here it's the music itself. Listed under Krautrock but it could have easily gone under Jazz / Fusion. This is a blending of styles really but Krautrock and Jazz / Fusion standout the most. I love the fuzzed out keyboards and bass but it makes it hard to know what i'm hearing at times much like on a lot of Canterbury music.

"The Really Great Escape" is Coryell's composition. This really gets my blood flowing. We get this nasty distorted keyboard sound throughout as the drums pound away. The guitar and vocals come in around a minute. How good is this ! Amazing sound 2 1/2 minutes in. Nothing like headbanging to some fuzzed out keyboards. Incredible track ! "Sun" is a Jazz / Fusion track with piano and a pastoral setting to start. Other sounds join in at a minute as it slowly builds.The guitar 2 minutes in reminds me of Santana.There is so much going on here. Great tune.

"Yan" is the almost 13 minute experimental piece. No melody to start just this freaky electronic soundscape with sounds coming and going. We get piano melodies 2 minutes in. Percussion then takes over around 4 minutes then these strange sounds come and go in the background. This gets louder before 8 minutes as the percussion continues. Drugged out vocals before 10 minutes followed by a silent calm after 10 1/2 minutes. Piano and an eerie vibe follow. A very Krauty tune. "Tuning Spread" is an 11 minute Jazz / Fusion track. It kicks in quickly with fuzz, drums, piano and more. Great sound ! Love the drumming after 2 minutes. I like the guitar too that joins in. Piano comes to the fore 5 minutes in. More fuzz 7 1/2 minutes in. The guitar is back before 10 1/2 minutes and check out the drum work. "Yin" opens with percussion, keyboards and atmosphere.The guitar joins in and we get distortion as well. So good. Intense is the word here. Some nice bass after 7 1/2 minutes.

This album is a must for fans of Jazzy and experimental Krautrock.