KNIRSCH

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.