EMBRYO from Munich performed on 9/23/1971 at the High School “Leibnizplatz“ in Bremen. Their gig was recorded by Radio Bremen under the conduct of Peter Schulze and broadcast in the series of “Jazz live“. A series which does not only present pure jazz but related music as weIl. On this CD their gig is made available to the broad public and for this occasion the chance of telling the initial and early history of Embryo until 1971 will be taken.
Since 1964 Christian Burchard (*5/1 7/1 946 in Hof) and Edgar Hofmann, nine years older to hirn who had been studying classical violin at Nuremberg, were playing jazz with Dieter Serfas at the Contemporary Trio. From 1967 until 1969 Christian and Edgar per formed at the Mal Waldron Quartet where they got together with some important figures ofjazz. Even later they cared for their friendship with Mal Waldron, every now and then performing with hirn, till his death on the 12/2/2002. In 1969, when Christian Burchard as guest was playing the vibraphone in “Phallus dei“, the first work of Amon Düül II, Embryo was founded. Core of the band were and still are Edgar Hofmann on saxophone and violin along with Christian Burchard on vibraphone, drums and piano. Various and all the while changing musicians performed with them, like Lothar Meid on bass and Dieter Serfas on drums, both known from Amon Düül II, or Jimmy Jackson on key boards, Ingo Schmidt on saxophone and Wolfgang Paap on drums. In April 1970 when their first LP “Opal“ was to be recorded the line-up of Embryo was down to four: besides Edgar Hofmann and Christian Burchard John Kelly on guitar and Ralph Fischer on bass were to be found. John Kelly had been playing the blues with Alvin Lee in Manchester even before the foundation of Ten Years After. Before joining Embryo John was on tour through Germany with The Fleet, a Scottish hard rock band. Ralph Fischer who had been performing with Peter-Michael Hamel in different latino and folk bands replaced Lothar Meid who had changed to Doldinger‘s Motherhood. “Opal“ which even was released in 1970 at the new founded Ohr (“Ear“) label of Peter Meisel and Rolf Ulrich Kaiser is today Embryos most looked for LP and regarded as their masterpiece. In June of the same year Ralph who wanted to pay more tribute to his Latino roots left the band, still being available for some gigs, and in the following months was replaced by Roman Bunka. At about the same time when John left, the flautist Hansi Fischer (not related to Ralph) from Xhol, formerly Xhol Caravan, joined the band. In the summer of 1971 Embryo‘s second LP “Embryo‘s Rache“ (“Embryo‘s revenge“) was recorded with guests. On that second LP, released by United Artists, influences of jazz and world music are much stronger. At the 9/23/1 971 the above mentioned weil attended gig in Bremen took place with the following line-up: Christian Burchard on drums, Edgar Hofmann on saxophone and violin, Hansi Fischer on flute, Ralph Fischer on bass, and Al Jones on guitar. A retrospective of Christian Burchard: “1971 has been one of Embryo‘s ‘commercially‘ most successful years. The LP ‘Embryo‘s Rache‘ (‘Embryo‘s revenge‘) remained tor several weeks in the top ranking of the charts though on this vinyl there could be heard at lot of complicated and odd rhythms as weil as — in comparison to its predecessor ‘Opal‘ — a lot more jazz improvisations. In 1970 Hansi Fischer had joined US, he used to perform flute and saxophone at Xhol (Caravan). Xhol, one of the most extraordinary bands ever in Germany, has been decades ahead of their times. When they are played today they seem to be as modern and exciting as ever since. Both groups have been best friends. Every time when we were performing near Wiesbaden, we stayed at there house and vice versa. Even now Tim Belbe, Xhol‘s saxophonist, still performs sometimes with Embryo. Trying to describe the music of those days, there had been lots of spontaneous improvisations. There were some fixed rufs mostly by guitar and bass, and on them small themes done by the wind players were superposed. On ‘Eva‘s nebula‘ yOU can hear the beat in 5/4 or 5/8, at those times often used but quite uncommon tor the rock music taste then. Very many musicians performing with Embryo came from the school of Mal Waldron, jazz pianist and composer who was and is a very important representative of modern international jazz (e. g. like Max Roach, Eric Dolphy, John Coltrane, with whom he had recorded unforgettable LPs, today classics of jazz history). The track ‘Espagna si...‘ has not only been a homage to Spanish music cuiture but as weil a distinct statement against the then ruling dictator Franco. Because of this track Embryo being on mediterranean tour with the heip of the German Goethe-Institut had been banned from Spain by the Ministry of Interior there. The line ‘Revolution is the only way‘ might sound exaggerated but it was heartfelt. Recently this composition by Embryo was covered by the Italian band Alhambra changing the line into ‘Italia si, Berlusconi no.“
A great many thanks to Radio Bremen for conceding the tape‘s usufruct rights as weil as to Christian Burchard tor his kind support.
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