By 1971, when he released his second offering as a leader, guitarist
Volker Kriegel
was already established on Germany's jazz-rock scene as a monster player, courtesy of his membership in the
Dave Pike Set
. Before joining that band,
Kriegel
had been known as a formidable jazz talent since his teenage years with vibraphonists
Fritz Hartschuh
and
Claudio Szenkar
.
Spectrum
was issued by
MPS
, the visionary label that issued groundbreaking recordings by everyone from
Oscar Peterson
Monty Alexander
to
George Duke
Peter Herbolzheimer
's sidemen here include British pianist
John Taylor
on Rhodes,
Peter Trunk
on upright and electric bass and cello, Dutch percussionist
Cees See
, and master drummer
Peter Baumeister
. He wrote everything on the date. "Zoom" is a riff-tastic opener with
playing sitar as well as electric guitar, with
Taylor
's funky vamps,
See
burning on tablas and congas, and
Baumeister
breaking up a storm. This is jazz rock fusion at its very best. "More About D" commences with shakers, spacy Rhodes, and a pizzicato bassline. When
enters it becomes knotty, serpentine fusion, with loads of free jazz elements alternating with Eastern modes, walking and swinging post-bop, and more throughout its ten-minute duration. It features some of the guitarist's finest playing on the recording and delivers a portrait of his holistic musical vision. "Suspicious Child, Growing Up" reveals that
had heard, and apparently loved, the
Allman Brothers Band
. Its meld of acoustic and electric country blues, underscored by soulful,
Stax
-like electric piano and rumbling bass and percussion, gives a wide-angle view of its composer's lyricism. Closer "Strings Revisited" invert the solo capacities of cello and guitar as lead instruments with
Trunk
playing his instrument like a guitar, before he and
fluidly exchange fours and eights with some killer brushed breaks, rolls, and fills from
, as
's piano impressionistically paints the frame before taking a smoking post-bop solo full of nuanced arpeggios and legato phrasing.
enjoyed a long, fruitful career with
and it's these records which define his legacy as a creative, restless musician who explored all types of jazz, rock, and world music on every recording he made for the label. That said,
is special for its ideas, boldness, confidence, and no-boundaries approach. As a result, it holds up generations later as a true jazz-rock classic. ~ Thom Jurek