01	A. Radio Marrakesch B. Orient Express						09:50
	02	Dreaming Girls						10:30
	03	Call: A. Call (Part 1) B. Organ Walk C. Marimba Village D. C Louds E. Call (Part 2)						17:21

EMBRYO - STEIG AUS
feat. Jimmy Jackson

English Info

1. a. Radio Marrakesch (Burchard, Bunka) 9:46
b. Orient Express (Jackson)
2. Dreaming Girls (Burchard) 10:28
3. Call 17:21
a. Call (Part 1) (Waldron)
b. Organ Walk (Jackson)
c. Marimba Village (Burchard)
d. Call (Part2) Burchard

Musicans:
Mal Waldron: E.Piano
Jimmy Jackson: Melotron, Organ
Dave King: Bass
Christian Burchard: Drums, Marimba, Vibes
Jцrg Evers: E-Bass
Edgar Hofmann: Violin
Roman Bunka: Guitar


STEIG AUS! (1972, Brain 1023)

Following the example of legendary jam sessions by international stars, Embryo in December 1971 went into the studio without any detailed preparations. They wanted maximum spontaneity and fun while producing an album as fresh as possible. "We are mainly Interested In first takes. You cant expect to go Into the studio and play a piece thirty-seven times without losing some of the freshness and spontaneity," explained Christian Burchard the basic principle of their production approach. Before "Steig Aus" Embryo had released a debut album on Rolf Ulrich Kaiser's Ohr label and another two albums on Liberty/United Artists Liberty however, now expected the band to play more rock because rock promised better commercial chances. Accordingly, the recordings Embryo had made in December 1971 and March and September 1972 did not find the approval of the Liberty executives - too much ethno, too much fusion, not enough rock, Christian Burchard finally sold the rights for two complete and already recorded LP's "Steig Aus" and "Rocksession" to Metronome sub-label Brain for 15,000 marks each.

Opener and masterpiece of the album Is the ten-minute, two-part 'Radio Marrakesch/Orient Express", Burchard s driving rhythm really gets that old train moving while Jimmy Jackson s Mellotron makes the whistle blow. A direct contrast is the instrumental ballad 'Dreaming Girls', on which Edgar Hoffmanns violin carries the fragile theme. The eighteen-minute "'Call" filled the entire second side of the LP and Is divided into various parts. "Call' is a good example for a typical jam session - the tension builds up slowly, and the musicians are able to show off their talent as soloists.

The finished album found the approval of both fans and critics. Sounds magazine raved: "Short solos seamiessly merge with each other - guitar, organ, electric piano, back to the guitar. Each of them concentrates on a different aspect of the theme, there are no ego trips, no excess baggage - everybody listens and reacts to the others in a very intensive manner, itґs a steady flow of action and reaction."

'Steig Aus" without a doubt is still one of the best Embryo records ever.

Matthias Mineur




Embryo [Germany]
Opal (70), Embryo's Rache (71), Father, Son and Holy Ghosts (72), Steig' Aus (73), Rock Session (73), This Is Embryo (74), We Keep On (74), Band Heads and Bad Cats (75), Surfin' (75), Embryo Live (76), Apo-Calypso (77), Embryo's Reise (79), La Blama Sparrozi? (81?) Zack Gluck (84), Africa (85), Embryo and Yoruba-Dun Dun Orchestra (85), Turn/Peace (89)

Embryo is basically Christian Burchard, and whomever he's with at the moment. They started out as a pretty classic space rock band and then got very jazzy in a fusiony period very heavy on vibes, and then Burchard started traveling around the world recording lps with african bands and middle eastern musicians and such. Covers a pretty diverse spectrum of music. My favorite is probably a tie between Embryo Live, a not extremely well recorded but excellent performance type lp with lots of keyboards and vibes and Charlie Mariano on sax and some woman singing, and a double lp - La Blama Sparrozi - that has some wild african pseudo-jazz with acoustic bass and other tracks with middle eastern sounds and mouth harps and synths.

I have three of their albums. Opal, their Ohr-label debut, is a tad on the raw side, but as far as spacy jazz-fusion is pretty interesting. Tracks like "End Of Soul," with its dry prose reading, hint that a number of chemical substances may have been used to inspire the musicians. ;) Easy to see them as a jazzier offshoot of the Amon Duul nucleus. Surfin' is much later, and most of their psychedelic tendencies have been tempered for more respectable, less dated flirtations with East Indian music. Very jazzy, so fusion fans take note. Best track: "Dance On Some Broken Glasses," which features guitarist Roman Bunka on saz (apparently some sort of stringed instrument, like a sarod) and American sax player Charlie Mariano on nagaswuram (a sort of reed instrument). Bad Heads And Bad Cats adds the pretty jazz-inflected voice of black American singer Maria Archer to the lineup, as well as full-time keyboardist Dieter Miekautsch, ex-Missus Beastly (on earlier albums, most keyboards were played by drummer/vibraphonist/leader Christian Burchard). There's greater use of vibes and marimba by Christian Burchard on this album, as well as double sax/flute ideas developed on Surfin'. Here they begin also to experiment with African music, most audibly on the 12-minute "Nina Kupenda." Some songs, like "After The Rain," toy with impressionistic soundscapes. The soaring "Road Song", features a beautiful lead vocal by Roman Bunka, who proves himself to be quite a convincing jazz vocalist. Also of note is "Layed Back" [sic], with its fine piano and organ soloing. A fine hunk of German fusion. -- Mike Ohman

Embryo take too long to describe, but are basically a jazz rock band that went from spacey to ethnic over the course of years. Nothing by them has really grabbed me, but Rock Session and Steig Aus are pretty good. Their rare first has been reissued on CD on Materiali Sonori (Opal).




EMBRYO
Personnel:
CHRISTIAN BURCHARD vibes, d (B-)
(JOHN KELLY g, v) A, B
(HANSI FISCHER v, flt) C
(SIEGFRIED SCHWAB g) E, F
(JIMI JACKSON kb) A, D, E
(MAL WALDRON kb) D
DIETER MIEKAUTSCH kb G, I
(EDGAR HOFFMANN sax, vln) A-F
(INGO SCHMIDT sax) A
CHARLIE MARIANO sax, flt G-I
MARIA ARCHER v I
(RALPH FISCHER b) B
(LOTHAR MEID b) A
ROMAN BUNKA b, saz (H) C, G-I
(JORG EVERS b) D
(DAVE KING b) E, F
UWE MULLRICH b H, I
(WOLFGANG PAAP d) A
(DIETER SERFAS perc) A
ALBUMS (up to '76):
(B)"Opal" (Ohr OMM 56 003) 1970
(C)"Embryo's Rache" (United Artists UAS 29239) 1971
(F)"Father, Son & Holy Ghost" (United Artists UAS 29344) 1972
(D-F)"Steig Aus" (Brain 1023) 1973
(E)"Rocksession" (Brain 1036) 1973
(G)"We Keep On" (BASF 20 2186-3) 1974
(H)"Surfin'" (Buk 17 22385-3) 1975
(I)"Live" (April 0003) 1976
(I)"Bad Heads & Bad Cats" (April 0005) 1976

NB: Originals of 1 had a rubber balloon attached to the front cover.
Re-issue of 2 & 3 as Classic German Rock Scene (2 LP) on United Artists UAS 29774 in 1976.
Re-issue of 4 on the 'Rock on Brain' series ca. 1978 (Brain 40.121).
Re-issue of 5 on the 'Brain 2001' series (Brain 201.109).
Re-issue of 8 & 9 on Schneeball (ca. 1979) with the same item number.
An album named This Is (Brain 2001.52) is probably a sampler with tracks from the two Brain albums.
1 & 2 re-issued on CD by the Italian label Mat. Sonori including bonus tracks.
Still active today, the Munich band Embryo has been one of the most important and inventive bands of the German jazz-rock school. Their formation in 1969 revolved around a nucleus of Christian Burchard, Edgar Hoffmann and Lothar Meid (bass). It seems to be a continental phenomenon to have drum playing band leaders, just think of Mani Neumeier (Guru Guru) and Christian Vander (Magma). Embryo's founder Christian Burchard had started his musical career by playing organ in several local rhythm and blues bands. In 1964 he switched to vibraphone and jazz when he founded the Contemporary Trio with Edgar Hoffmann (I don't know the third member). Three years later they attempted to expand the boundaries of free Jazz with Chris Karrer, Peter Leopold, Dieter Serfas and Jimmy Jackson. These musicians soon rose to fame in Amon Duul II. Christian Burchard was a guest on their first album Phallus Dei (1969). In 1967 he also played with future Between members Peter-Michael Hamel (keyboards) and Roberto Detree (guitar) at the Song Parnass in Munich. Unfortunately no recordings are known of this exciting combination. Burchard and Hoffmann also joined the Mal Waldron Quartet in 1967 and stayed for two years. Mal Waldron is an internationally well-known black American piano player who has worked with jazz legends such as Billie Holiday and John Coltrane. They also performed live with Mal Waldron, and got to know proficient jazz soloists such as Steve Lacy, Stu Martin, Don Menza, Natan Davis and Lucky Thompson.

Lothar Meid also had a jazz background. He brought to Embryo two of the musicians he had played with in a sixties jazz and soul quintet: Jimi Jackson and Wolfgang Paap. Also Dieter Serfas, Ingo Schmidt and John Kelly were early members of Embryo. Kelly came to Germany touring with a Scottish hard rock band and had played blues with Alvin Lee before he formed Ten Years After. Early live tracks are included as bonus tracks on the CD issue of Opal. In Autumn 1969 the first personnel changes took place in Embryo. In fact I don't know of any other German group with such a complex family tree as them! This may be due to the prototype jazz musician's fear of being locked up in the group format as in rock music. Lothar Meid left to join Doldinger's Motherhood. His replacement was Ralph Fischer, previously part of a folk trio that also included Peter-Michael Hamel. Before the recording of Opal in April 1970, the group had been reduced to a quartet of Hoffmann, Burchard (now playing drums besides vibraphone), Fischer and Kelly. Bettsy Allech (vocals), Roberto Detree (motocello, later a member of Between) and Holger Trultzch (bongos, later a member of Popol Vuh) contributed to the album as guests. Opal was a highly inventive fusion of rock, jazz, blues, soul and psychedelia, the first of five forthcoming classic albums. Guitar riffing as used on the track "You Don't Know What's Happening" was never to be heard from Embryo again after Kelly quit in June 1970. However, the soloist who really was given time to excel was Edgar Hoffmann, helping to define a unique German fusion sound also explored by Xhol and Out Of Focus. Hoffmann's electric violin and sax graced tracks like "Revolution", "Call" (a Mal Waldron composition) and "People From Outer Space". The original copies of Opal had a cover cut-in with a balloon attached, the legendary gimmick of the first Ohr albums. Copies with the balloon still intact are now of course extremely rare and usually sold for more then 250 DEM.

The disbanding Xhol supplied Embryo with Hansi Fischer upon their demise at the end of 1970. Also Roman Bunka joined Embryo (replacing Ralph Fischer). At this time he was only 19 years old. He was to quit and rejoin Embryo several times, but nevertheless was one of their most important members. Embryo's Rache (1971) without a guitarist. On this album they were also aided by friends: Jimi Jackson, Hermann Breuers (electric piano, organ) and Franz Bontgen (vocals). The album was recorded at the Dierks studio. Embryo's long lasting passion for refined rhythms began to shine through on this album, noticeably on the opening track "Tausendtussler" .

If Hoffmann was the instrumental backbone of Opal, it was Fisher's flute and Jackson's keyboards (particularly on Jackson's own contribution "Revenge") that dominated this time. This was really an album of fantastic instrumental duels more jazzy in direction than Opal, with only occasional vocals. Bunka and Fischer soon went their own ways. Burchard and Hoffmann re-recorded the Waldron composition "Call" in a great 18 minute version close to conventional jazz with Jackson, Waldron and Jorg Evers (bass) late in 1971. This wasn't exactly what their record company United Artists wanted, and they turned down both this recording and the subsequent Rocksession recordings from February to March 1972. The latter was at last released on Brain at the end of 1973. Burchard and Hoffmann was joined by Dave King on some of the recordings when Evers quit for Amon Duul II and later Achtzehn Karat Gold. A guitarist (he also played more exotic string instruments) firmly rooted in jazz, Siegfried Schwab, also joined Embryo. He came from Wolfgang Dauner's Et Cetera, and brought important ethnic influences Into the band.

The Rocksession album started with a short "rock" song ("A Place To Go"), but the other three tracks were extended jazz instrumentals of a high quality. Also a fourth jazz instrumental, "Dreaming Girls", was recorded during these sessions. This appeared on Embryo's other Brain album Steig Aus (1973), along with the already recorded "Call".

Again reduced to a quartet Embryo at last managed to please United Artists with Father, Son & Holy Ghost (1972), recorded in March 1972 at Studio 70, Munich. The absence of keyboards made this album sound remarkably different from Rocksession. Schwab's stringed instruments were the highlight this time. Also the album had a more accessible style, at times almost relaxing. As usual the group disintegrated some months after the recordings. When Embryo appeared live in Munich during the Olympic games in September 1972, Burchard had assembled Roman Bunka (apparently talked into rejoining) and Dieter Miekautsch (fresh from Missing Link, now being a member of Embryo and Missus Beastley simultaneously). Burchard, Bunka and Jimi Jackson recorded the last track for Steig Aus: "Radio Marrakesh/Orient Express", a brilliant 10 minute two-part piece starting with some exotic, ethnic bouzouki and vibraphone interplay, and ending in an energetic jazz-rock fusion, driven by organ, electric piano and guitar. Burchard's steady rhythm was the engine of the Orient Express while Jackson's mellotron blew the whistle. Jackson still played with Embryo live from time to time, but most importantly he now introduced Burchard to another black American jazz musician: Charlie Mariano. In December 1972 they recorded We Keep On (1974), which was a good album though it couldn't match any of their previous ones. The tracks were extracts from long jam sessions in the studio. The album found some recognition in the USA, partly due to the Mariano involvement and partly due to international distribution. Miekautsch quit the group in July 1973 to join Missus Beastley.

Surfin' (1975) was a very mixed affair - one of their weakest albums ever. They were now heading into a lighter, funky jazz-rock direction, partially forced on them by their record company. The album was recorded in the Summer of 1974, partly with the new bassist Uwe Mullrich, previously a guitarist with Lokomotive Kreuzberg and an old friend of Roman Bunka. The ethnic styled sections were best, particularly the only extended track called "Dance Of Some Broken Glasses", a gentle and atmospheric track with Mariano on flute, Bunka on saz (a stringed instrument from Turkey) and Burchard on violin appearing one by one.

Missus Beastley's music had also suffered from artistic compromises on their 1974 album. As a consequence, along with Embryo, Ton Steine Scherben, Sparifankal and Checkpoint Charlie they founded April, a company dedicated to independent music and offering artistic freedom. At the beginning of 1975, Dieter Miekautsch returned to Embryo. Later the band also got a female vocalist in Maria Archer.

Embryo's first two April albums didn't seem to benefit much from this freedom, as Bad Heads And Bad Cats (1976) featured very standard and unimaginative funky jazz-rock. Live (1976), recorded during a tour of Austria, February 1976) was only marginally better. Hoffmann was now enlisted as a 'guest'! Embryo were also featured on the live festival samplers Umsonst & Draussen Vlotho Winterberg of 1975 with the track "Sidetrack", 1976 with "The Bad Times Are Gone". Some members were exchanged with Missus Beastley in the last half of 1976.

=================


Embryo
Formed 1969


One of the most original and innovative Krautrock bands, Embryo fused traditional ethnic music with their own jazzy space rock style. Over their 30-year existence, during which Christian Burchard has been the only consistent member, the group has traveled the world, playing with hundreds of different musicians and releasing over 20 records.
Originally a jazzy space rock group, Embryo was formed in 1969 in Munich, Germany, by former R&B and jazz organist Christian Burchard (vibraphone, hammer dulcimer, percussion, marimba), Edgar Hofmann (saxophone), Luther Meid (bass), Jimmy Jackson (organ), Dieter Serfas (drums, percussion), Wolfgang Paap (drums), Ingo Schmidt (saxophone), and John Kelly (guitar). However, the lineup was already different by the time of the sessions for their debut album. The resulting record, Opal (1970), is considered the band's masterpiece of their early, more psychedelic sound. By the time of Embryo's Rache (1971), the group was already adding ethnic touches to their music.

In 1972, the same year they played at the Olympic Games in Munich, Embryo was invited by the Goethe Institute to tour Northern Africa and Portugal. In Morocco, the band was fascinated by the different tonal scales used by Moroccan musicians, profoundly shaping the group's music to come. In 1973, the band was joined by saxophonist Charlie Mariano and guitarist Roman Bunka, who were both influential in moving Embryo towards their genre-blending mixture of space rock with ethnic sounds. We Keep On, released in 1973, was the most successful album in the group's career. However, after Surfin' (1974) and Bad Heads and Bad Cats (1975), Burchard decided the band was moving in too commercial a direction and led them on an eight-month excursion to India, where they met local musicians. Shoba Gurtu, an Indian singer the band met during their travels, would later record an album with them, 1979's Apo Calypso. Embryo also set up their own record label, Schneeball, with the rock band Checkpoint Charlie during this time. The band then took off on a two-year journey through the Middle East, India, Pakistan, and Afghanistan, during which the band's bus broke down in Tehran in the middle of a civil war in 1981. The double album Embryo Reise (1981) captured this musical expedition as did the documentary film Vagabunden-Karawane. A

fter touring Asia, the Middle East, and Egypt during the early '80s, Embryo released their first studio album in seven years, Zack Gluck, in 1984. The band then toured Africa and became involved with Nigeria's Yoruba Dun Dun Ensemble. However, after internal conflicts, Embryo split up. Burchard then continued under the name of Embryo with new musicians while a new group, Embryos Dissidenten, was formed. The band released 2001 Live: Vol. 1. - Geoff Orens



1970 Opal Ohr
1971 Embryo's Rache Liberty
1972 Father Son and Holy Ghosts Liberty
1973 Steig Aus Brain
1973 Rocksession Brain
1974 We Keep on BASF
1975 Classic German Rock Scene United Artists
1975 Surfin' BASF
1976 Embryo Live Trikont
1976 Bad Heads & Bad Cats April
1976 Life April
1977 Apo Calypso April
1979 Reise Schneeball
1982 La Blama Sparozzi Schneeball
1983 Embryo's Reise Schneeball
1984 Zack Gluck Materiali
1985 Embryo & Yoruba Dun Dun Orchester Schneeball
1987 Africa
1989 Turn Peace
1994 Ibn Battuta Editions Nova
1996 Ni Hau
1998 Live in Berlin United One
1999 Istanbul - Casablanca [live]
1999 Invisible Documents [live] Embryo
2001 Rache Import

1980 Anthology Materiali