The re-release of Hans Koller's 1966 Relax With My Horns (MPS, Germany) shows a master at the top of his game. For the listeners, the disc is composed, arranged and produced with a sense of cheekiness… Trio of jazz musicians, with overdubbing of up to four saxophones on the session. The sum is a tidy little package of swing, blues and multi-tracked sax that echoes the iconic group Supersax.

This compilation recorded during the 1972 Heidelberg Jazz Festival is a wide-ranging sampler with individual selections by evelen European groups representing a potpourri of musical styles and directions.

"Vision" portrays canonically overlaid sax parts played at breakneck speed before moving into a relaxed bluesy groove, then turns to blistering multi-horn solos. The dirge-like For Dolphy, with the plaintive vocal cries of the altos, was dedicated to the great alto saxophonist Eric Dolphy. The med swing and skewed bluesy feel of For H.G. features the tenor out front. Tryptichon is a challenging angular composition in 3 parts with free improvisation moving from slow to up-tempo and back. With its Dolphyesque melody, Music For Jule is a frenetic excursion with an oblique reference to Monk.

This is a classic – the jazz album that signaled the beginning of Hans-Georg Brunner-Schwer’s storied SABA-MPS record company, and pointed the way to the label’s next two decades of creative, beautifully recorded music performed by some of the greatest players in jazz.