Exposé Online banner

Exposé Online

Not just outside the box, but denying the existence of boxes.
Covering music from the fringes since 1993.

Reviews

Xhol Caravan — Hamburg 1969
(Garden of Delights CD194, 1969/2022, CD)

by Peter Thelen, Published 2025-09-27

Hamburg 1969 Cover art

At hand is another fine live recording by one of Germany’s finest jazz-rock outfits from the late 60s and early 70s. The band was in a constant state of evolution as their sound was changing, and so was their name. For the first album in 1967 they were a soul band going by the name Soul Caravan, which was still the case at the beginning of 1969, when they were taking on a more jazz and psychedelic sound, and changed their name to Xhol Caravan (pronounced Ex-Soul Caravan), at the peak of their powers late in that year, releasing their LP Electrip. Then, as the new decade took hold and their sound became even more experimental, they changed their name to simply Xhol, perhaps to avoid confusion with the British band Caravan, who by 1971 had three LPs out and were gaining popularity. The performance at hand took place at the Jazzhouse in Hamburg, only a matter of weeks before they began recording Electrip, still with American singer James Rhodes and guitarist Werner Funk, who would both leave the band before the Electrip sessions began; the remainder of the seven piece band included Tim Belbe (tenor sax), Hansi Fischer (flute, alto and soprano sax), bassist Klaus Briest, drummer “Skip” Gilbert Van Wyck III, and Öcki von Brevern on Fender Rhodes piano. The set was professionally recorded for NDR broadcast, and the sound is nothing short of excellent. Beginning with a sprawling ten-minute version of George and Ira Gershwin’s “Summertime,” best known from the musical Porgy & Bess, the set moves on to the improvisational “Xholarium,” at just a couple minutes shy of half an hourl it was a track that would appear again on Xhol’s Altena 1970, but never in a studio version. From there the set turns toward more concise tracks like “Electric Fun Fair” and “Raise Up High,” both of which would appear on Electrip. though a couple of noteworthy tunes that are not on that album are the beautiful “Talking to My Soul” and “African Song,” both eight minutes or longer; the latter piece is drawn from Soul Caravan’s 1967 album Get In High, along with the soulful “Planet Earth” that closes the disc nicely. Without Rhodes’ soulful singing and Funk’s guitar, they would go on to record Electrip as a jazz-rock quintet and the rest is history.

Filed under: Archives, 2022 releases, 1969 recordings

Related artist(s): Xhol Caravan / Xhol / Soul Caravan

More info
http://diregarden.com/god194.html

 

What's new

These are the most recent changes made to artists, releases, and articles.