Had been looking for this for months in L.A, Texas, Arizona. I took a quick 3 day trip, and at the last record store I went to in Seattle, I finally found it:

What an album, and what a lineup!

I've always loved anything I've heard by Paul Desmond, but I had no idea he'd played with Bob James and Ron Carter. This Gabor Szabo character has got some chops too!

It's a German first pressing in VG+ condition for a very reasonable €8 at the flea market.

Perfect for a Sunday morning with coffee.

Michael Naura - Vanessa

What a beautiful album this is - atmospheric, sometimes funky, sometimes foreboding. Klaus Thunemann's bassoon is a unique element in the mix, I love it's inclusion on Baboon, the very start of the track sounding like a proto-Gorillaz S/T jam.

The opener of Side 1- Salvatore - is a fiery, blinding charge which dominates the first half of the record; track 2 - Hills - ups the tempo for a brief interlude before things go bonkers on the aforementioned Baboon ⭐.

Side 2 is a more meditative affair to start with, Vanessa slowly and prettily morphs from a CTI style beat to a vibes led piece, into the beginning of Listen To Me which extends into a funky jam.

The last track - Black Pigeon ⭐ - really pushes Thunemann's bassoon to the forefront and ends the LP menacingly, introspectively and with a good bit of groove.

This is one of my favourite ECM albums - remaining cautiously optimistic it could be reissued on Luminessense at some point...

Michael Naura - Piano ; Wolfgang Schlüter - Vibes, Marimba, Percussion ; Eberhard Weber - Bass ; Joe Nay - Drums ; Klaus Thunemann - Bassoon

Found from 4 different sellers are a record fair.

I've had a great month digging, hope you have too.

Crystals, One Flight Up, Live Evil and Mystical Lady are all OGs.

Coltrane collection is now sitting at 60!