Albert Mangelsdorff, the German trombonist who died aged 76 last year, helped burst open the sonic possibilities and athleticism of a famously lethargic instrument. German label Skip Records has issued the 1979 Hamburg live recording with Norwegian bass star Arild Andersen and Swiss drummer Pierre Favre that Mangelsdorff called "the most thrilling trio recording" of his career. It sat in the vaults for a quarter-century, but the music is so vivacious, you'd have thought they could have heard it fizzing away deep in the box. Both Mangelsdorff and Andersen bring a remarkable lightness and delicacy to their heavyweight instruments. The title track's rocking riff hints at Mangelsdorff's trad-jazz apprenticeship, his trombone descending to a tuba's depths, and the free-floating Soulbird mingles didgeridoo-like huffing, Mangelsdorff's famous blown-and-sung harmony playing and Andersen's lithe bass variations. The threesome rockets through most of its awesome arsenal on the 14-minute Warbling Warbler, from bop-swing and free improv to timbral adventures that sound as if six musicians were playing rather than three. The themes are whimsically gripping; they make terrific springboards for improvising, and Favre is both a percussion sorcerer and a lightly dancing swinger. Trombone, bass and drums may not sound like a promising combination, but this is cutting-edge jazz-improv with an idiosyncratically buoyant lyricism.
