The “Ever More” of Jazz: Jazz icons Johnny Griffin and Eddie "Lockjaw" Davis are joined here by Tete Montoliu, Niels-Henning Orsted Pedersen and Art Taylor.

Recorded live at at Onkel Pö‘s Carnegie Hall, in Hamburg in 1981, this concert represents a typical Jazz Machine live performance, and the selection of tracks feeds on concise themes and motives from all established sources of the hard bop era where the musicians get plenty of room to stretch out and Jones specially proves his mastery again and again.

"… Already the music made by the young Collins, born 1932 in Leona/Texas, was praised to be especially 'cool'; and of course, when he performed on the tiny stage of Onkel Pö's Carnegie Hall on Eppendorfer Lehmweg in Hamburg, he was joined by his band called The Icebreakers. Naturally, on this winter evening no cold barrier needed to be overcome, certainly not in the overcrowded Pö, where most probably (as so often) tropical temperatures will have prevailed. . . . His name adorned the star line-up at the Montreux Jazz Festival and at the Paleo-Festival in Nyon, just around the corner on Lake Geneva. It was also in Nyon that his terminal illness first broke out.

Jazz/pop vocalist Esther Phillips is joined here by Henry Cain, Wes Blackman, Bill Upchurch, and James Levi for a set that includes 'Stormy Weather" and "What A Difference A Day Makes".

"Considering the current developments on the market for Presidents of the United States one should probably remind the public, that even this strange bird – John Birks Gillespie from Cheraw, South Carolina, born in October 1917, nicknamed 'Dizzy' since the start of his professional career and thus declared a bit crazy – once wanted to become President of the United States. Seriously? Most probably not.

Extraordinary talented jazz trumpeter Woody Shaw recorded at the zenith of his personal development in 1982, accompanied by a sensational group of musicians. The group includes drummer Tony Reedus, bassist Stafford James, the pianist Mulgrew Miller and the trombonist Steve Turre, who became one of the new young voices of the jazz trombone shortly afterwards. Shaw's playing was characterised by technical perfection (just as those of his role model Freddie Hubbard) and a hands-on approach when it came to sound and tonality; Shaw was extremely fast when he wanted to be but never lost the clarity of his musical language.

Funk, Soul, R&B, Blues. Dafür steht der aus Texas stammende Sänger und Gitarrist Johnny Guitar Watson, einer der ganz großen seines Fachs. Im Dezember 1976 gastierte der 1996 verstorbene amerikanische Soul Star mit seiner Band im legendären Hamburger Onkel Pö.

The iconic jazz trumpeter and vocalist Chet Baker, one of the true greats in jazz, recorded live at the legendary Hamburg venue Onkel Pö's Carnegie Hall in 1979. Baker's music here is crystal clear, powerful, compact and focused. Eloquently he tells the story of the compositions he selected for that evening; just ¬five pieces for 100 minutes - Cole Porter's standard "Love for Sale" as an opener, interpreted in a slightly rocky way, then the empathic fable "You Can't Go Home Again" by Don Sebesky, followed by "There'll Never Be Another You" by Harry Warren as a showcase for Baker's unique, fragile and yet seductive scat, as well as two true highlights: "Black Eyes" by Wayne Shorter and "Broken Wing" by Richie Beirach. Chet Baker himself never composed a song - but like no other, he was able to absorb and understand the best music ideas of his contemporaries. Three excellent musicians accompanied Baker on the tour: Phil Markovitz from New York on the piano and the Belgian bassist Jean-Louis Rassinfosse, the trio was completed by the drummer Charlie Rice, from Philadelphia.

"When Freddie Hubbard came to Hamburg to get on the tiny stage of Onkel Pö's Carnegie Hall, he was right at the centre of the world of jazz, probably more than ever before or after in his career – together with Herbie Hancock, Wayne Shorter, Ron Carter and Tony Williams the trumpet player had set-up the quintet 'V.S.O.P.' three years earlier; as the other four people of the group had previously formed the legendary second quintet of Miles Davis, Freddie Hubbard could be considered to be his direct successor. . . .