Trumpet Machine - For Flying out Proud (2017) [Hi-Res]

Trumpeters Woody Shaw, Kenny Wheeler, John Faddis, Palle Mikkebourg, and Mike Zwerin playing together on the same album? Impossible, you say? Well, think again; thanks to the creative vision of the amazing Swiss keyboardist/composer George Gruntz, his longtime friend, trumpeter Franco Ambrosetti, and MPS, the impossible was made possible – an assemblage of some of the great trumpeters in contemporary jazz.

NPR Music called Shaw "The last great trumpet innovator", AllMusic labeled Wheeler "one of the most advanced voices on his instrument", Faddis is the inheritor of Dizzy Gillespie's mantle…well, you get the drift. The six are supported by the outstanding bassist Isla Eckinger and drummer Daniel Humair, and spurred on by Gruntz' and Ambrosetti's exploratory compositions. On the blistering, Dolphyesque For Flying Out Proud, Wheeler is followed by Zwerin on bass-trumpet, Ambrosetti, Gruntz on piano, with Shaw ending the show. On the bright and shinning Spring Song, Mikkebourg jumps off on muted trumpet followed by Shaw’s flugelhorn. The speedy Anticipation features Humair’s dynamic drumming and Ambrosetti on trumpet. Hot Diggety Damn! burns darkly with Wheeler, Ambrosetti, and Shaw in that order. The exotic Baal: Von Sonne Krank features Zwerin on bass trumpet, while Outfox No Kinxwinx! combines an outrageous mix of jazz-rock, jazz waltz and circus music, with Mikkebourg on trumpet and Gruntz on synth. Faddis-Burger’s Plunger-Fahrt is understandably a showcase for John Faddis on plunger-muted as well as open trumpet, whereas Kenny Wheeler takes center stage on the beautiful ballad A Wheeler’s Wings. A one-time one-of-a-kind album with six trumpet greats flying out proud!

Franco Ambrosetti, trumpet, flugelhorn
Jon Faddis, trumpet, flugelhorn
Kenny Wheeler, trumpet, flugelhorn
Palle Mikkelborg, trumpet, flugelhorn
Woody Shaw, trumpet, flugelhorn
Mike Zwerin, bass trumpet
George Gruntz, Fender Rhodes, synthesizer, acoustic piano
Isla Eckinger, bass
Daniel Humair, drums

Engineered by Hans Georg Brunner-Schwer
Produced by George Gruntz, Willi Fruth

Digitally remastered