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Oscar Klein (cornet), Romano Mussolini (piano), Karsten Grettner (bass), Charly Antolini (drums)
13 Tracks. Recorded: 30 and 31 May 1994
Profile:
Oscar Klein is Austrian, preferring to be considered a cosmopolitan. He speaks seven languages and plays trumpet, guitar, clarinet and bluesharp. Absolutely self-taught, he still can't read music. His real profession was graphic arts and his drawing talents allowed him to be a teacher in a school in Florence at the age of 18.
Since 40 years Oscar Klein has been active as a professional jazz musician. After 5 years with Austrian clarinetist Fatty George (with whom also Joe Zawinul has been playing) he moved to the Chicago styled Tremble Kids, to end up with the famous Dutch Swing College Band, touring Europe and the rest of the world.
Oscar Klein is a swinging, agressive and expressive trumpeter in a Chicago-Swing style, also influenced by black soloists like Cootie Williams and Roy Eldridge. On guitar he is a fluent soloist with a talent for Freddie Greene type rhythm. He excells with the fingerpicking Blues and Ragtime style, also his harmonica and clarinet are blues orientated.
Since many years Oscar Klein has been playing educational concerts in schools for children and teenagers ^h great success. He believes that a jazz performance should be musically valuable but also entertaining. Oscar Klein has recorded with Lionel Hampton, Roy Eldridge, Earl Hines, Albert Nicholas, Bud Freeman, Peanuts Hucko, Sammy Price, Ralph Sutton, Bill Allred, Joe Zawinul, Wild Bill D^vjson, Dexter Gordon, Wallace Bishop and Spiegle Willcox. Until now Oscar Klein has recorded 130 LP's and 32 CD's. 1996 he has been nominated Professor by the Austrian President Thomas Klestil.
Charly Antolini was born in Zurich. He began his career as a professional drummer in Paris in 1956. For forty years he has been present on the jazz scene and has become one of the best-known jazz drummers in Europe. At the age of nine he learned drumming in a drumming school in Zurich.
In the four decades of his career the Swiss drummer, who lives in Munich, has won himself the title of 'Mr. Jazzpower' with his tremendously effective high-pressure playing, after years of training in the big bands of Erwin Lehn, Peter Herboizheimer, Kurt Edelhagen or with the big band of North German Radio in Hamburg, and having gained experience and maturity through innumerable musical contacts with leading jazz musicians from swing and be-bop such as Buddy de Franco, Toots Thielemans, Art Farmer, Albert Mangels-dorff, Slide Hampton, Jimmy Woode, Joe Newman, Red Holloway, Thad Jones, Bob Wilber, Nils Henning Orsted Pederson, Red Mitchell, dark Terry, and many others.
Even such jazz giants as Lionel Hampton or the great 'King of Swing', Benny Goodman, invited him to join them in concerts and tours. In the middle of the 1960's Charly Antolini made records with many great jazz stars: with Stuff Smith on his last LP Art van Damme and Eugen Cicero.
In 1976 Charly Antolini founded his own formation 'Jazz Power' with continually changing participants. He is always looking for musicians with new ideas, the best jazz musicians from the USA and Europe just come up to his expectations.
Up till now they have included, among others, the late Sal Nistico, Benny Bailey, Toni Lakatos, Herb Geller, Lew Soloff. About his playing the following must be said: Charly Antolini really is one of the virtuoso drummers of our time in the tradition of Buddy Rich, Louie Bellson, Sam Woodyard, Jo Jones - a soloist with enormous power and endurance; passion and fitness are his trademarks.
Charly has performed at all international jazz festivals, had an own TV-show and several successful CDs under his own name.
Romano Mussolini
Romano Mussolini is Benito Mussolini's youngest son. He has been active as a jazz pianist and composer for over 45 years. He played jazz already during the war, supported by his father and his brother Vittorio, one of the first jazz critics in Italy.
Romano Mussolini is self-taught and plays a swinging, modern style with lots of blues influences. He wants to entertain with his playing. During his long career he has performed with Chet Baker, Dizzy Gillespie, George Benson, Valery Ponomarev and Tony Scott. 'My name never was a handicap', says Romano, 'people always liked me. In the beginning they only came out of curiosity. In 1956 I even found a photographer under my bed!'
Since many years he has been playing regularly with Oscar Klein, who also became one of his closest friends.
Karsten Gnettner
One of the young German innovative bass players, who is in age and creativity a good addition to the quartet of these three European giants.