Live at the Berlin Philharmonic, 1977

5-STARS This two-disc release has come about as a result of Galper sifting through his archives a couple years ago. It was a session well worth rescuing. Although dating back 44 years, it recalls when Galper was already established as a highly-regarded player, almost part of the jazz-scene furniture and thus sometimes unfairly overlooked. This concert (plus one track recorded just a few months later in January 1978) finds him on expansive top form, offering some of his toughest playing, making full use of the piano's range without ever seeming emptily virtuosic. He constantly sets the bar high, and the band matches him.

Mike Brecker, highly influential himself, dips into his bag of John Coltrane mannerisms but then, if you are going to be influenced, follow the footsteps of the best. Big brother Randy on trumpet echoed greats from hard-bop's heyday, like Freddie Hubbard, without merely mimicking them. By the time of this concert their own jazz-rock-fusion band, The Brecker Brothers, had been achieving critical and popular acclaim and an unusual measure (by jazz standards) of commercial success, but this session confirms that they were always capable of playing simonpure neo-hard bop.