A collection of 8 CDs featuring avant-garde jazz pianist and composer Alexander von Schlippenbach (born 1938).  Schlippenbach is a pioneer of European free improvisation and also a noted composer of music for large ensembles, particularly his famous Globe Unity Orchestra.  These discs provide an overview of his career and capture his work in different contexts, including large skronking ensembles, more composed large-ensemble music, and loose small-group non-idiomatic free improvisations.  The recordings feature many leading figures of the European free-improvisation scene, including saxophonists Peter Brotzmann and Evan Parker, trumpeters Manfred Schoof and Kenny Wheeler, trombonists Paul Rutherford and Albert Mangelsdorff, bassist Peter Kowald, and drummers Han Bennink and Paul Lovens.  Most of these recordings came out on the legendary German FMP (Free Music Production) label, and are very hard to find.  This lot includes beautifully remastered versions of historically pivotal records re-issued on a limited-edition subscription basis by the Atavistic label in the late 1990s as part of its "unheard music" series, as well as an ultra-rare Japanese import pressing of Gunter Hampel's 1965 MPS album "Heartplants," an intriguing document of Schlippenbach and company on the cusp of their discovery of total freedom.  As a bonus, I've thrown in a rare double-disc set from ECM devoted to the Hessian Radio Jazz Orchestra, which includes many of these musicians as well as other key figures in 1960s-1980s European jazz.     

The lot includes the following albums:

Gunter Hampel: Heartplants (MPS, 1965) -- Japanese import

Globe Unity Orchestra 67 & 70 (FMP/Atavistic Unheard Music, 1967, 1970)

The Living Music (FMP/Atavistic Unheard Music, 1969)

Globe Unity Special '75, Rumbling (FMP, 1975)

Hunting the Snake (FMP/Atavistic Unheard Music, 1975)

Elf Bagatellen (FMP, 1991)

Jazzensemble des Hessischer Rundfunk: Atmospheric Conditions Permitting (ECM, 1967-1993) - 2 CD set

See listing photos for track listings and personnel details.  The discs shown in the photos is the one the winning bidder will receive.  The discs are in high-quality vinyl archival sleeves.  Discs, inserts and inlays remain intact and in mint condition -- you could easily return them to jewel boxes if you so chose.