hartmut geerken: at the face

Hartmut Geerken is a writer, a composer, a musician, a film-maker, an actor, and also a lumberjack. He traveled the world and lived in Egypt where he founded -- together with Salah Ragab and Edu Vizvari -- the Cairo Jazz Band and the Cairo Free Jazz Ensemble. He also played with Embryo, in a trio with John Tchicai and Don Moye (with whom he made an extensive tour in Africa), and also with the Art Ensemble of Chicago. He worked with Sunny Murray, Don Cherry, Okay Termiz, Peter Kowald, Takehisa Kosugi, Toshi Ichiyanagi, Michael Ranta, and so many more. This longplayer captures two very different moments of his work. On side A -- recorded in 1994 -- he wildly plays the legendary Sun Harp, which Sun Ra gave him in Egypt in 1971 as a guarantee for the money Hartmut lent him to fly back to the States. Sun Ra promised that 'he would buy it back from him one day' but this never happened and he's still the owner of this magical instrument. The last track of this side is joined by eight basses building an enchanting chorus. On the flip, a highly meditative song split into three chapters recorded in a cave on the island of Gavdos in Greece in 2007, playing a flexible roll piano

Hartmut Geerken: Bandura #1 by Holidays Records