Remo Rau Quartet - At the Cafe Africana

Impossible to find hard bop LP! From the collection of Elsie Bianchi comes this exciting Swiss jazz album, originally released 1961 in a micro run of approx. 150 copies on a private label Composer, arranger and vibraphone player Remo Rau (1925-1987) recorded directly "on the spot" with Renato Anselmi (p), Roger Pierre (b) and Alex Bally (d) at the legendary "Cafe Africana" in Zurich. Exclusive 1:1 vinyl reissue - the first and only recorded trace of Rau's fascinating modern jazz activities, incl. Original material and pieces by Hank Mobley, Cole Porter and Jerome Kern, comes with original cover design and sleeve notes. VINYL ONLY! Original sleeve notes from 1961: At Zurich, Switzerland, the Cafe Africana is the meeting place for jazz musicians and fans alike, where both professional and amateur musicians gather for informal sessions. Remo Rau, composer, arranger and vibist has been playing with his all-Swiss, non-professional quartet at this cafe every Tuesday for the past two years. This first recording of theirs was taken from the original tape. Most Jazz fans agree that Jazz recorded directly "on the spot" is often very much more authentic, despite faults in performance which cannot be corrected. The quality of this recording may not be as good as any done in the studios, but on the other hand the listener will hear Jazz performed spontaneously in a true jazz atmosphere. Remo Rau (1925-1987) was born in Yokohama and spent his youth in Japan with lessons in piano, music theory and oboe. In 1942 he moved to Switzerland. In addition to business education he continued his musical activities. From the mid-50s he worked as a promoter for the Zurich jazz scene, since 1959 as head of the jazz cafe-club "Cafe Africana" and in 1968 as a co-founder of the organization "Modern Jazz Zurich." As booker of the Africana in the early 1960s, he brought artists such as Abdullah Ibrahim, Horace Silver and Chris McGregor to Zurich. The jazz musician Remo Rau was influenced by the "funky" hard bop of Horace Silver along with more listening impressions. Rau told Nick Liebmann, how he was personally instructed by Horace Silcer in the rhythmic and harmonic intricacies of hard bop at the Africana, with Silver sitting next to him at the piano for hours (cf. Bruno Spoerri - Jazz in Switzerland).