024: Green Cosmos, Abendmusiken

Mysterious German jazz from 1983.

I’ve been spending time in ‘80s Berlin vis-à-vis literature and film recently (Kairos by Jenny Erpenbeck and The Lives of Others respectively, both of which I recommend) so it is entirely apropos that this week’s recommendation comes from Germany during the same time period. These guys clearly absorbed the best of American midcentury jazz; in the liner notes, saxophonist Michael Boxberger (who plays soprano and tenor) says that their shared inspiration was the music of the John Coltrane Quartet, and you can see who I believe to be Pharoah Sanders on a poster in the background of the band photo. It shows in their music, but it doesn’t ever sound like a cheap imitation. It’s a fresh and exciting expression, humming with an aura of its own. You think the music might careen into free jazz but it never quite goes there, though the spirit of experimentalism hovers at the perimeter of the album’s most spiritual songs.

This tracks with what Boxberger writes of their sonic trajectory. He and pianist Benny Düring are old friends from kindergarten, growing up in the small town of Marsberg (about 270 miles west of Berlin) and eventually becoming fans of “swing jazz” (his wording). The band came together in 1975 after they met Alfred and Uli Franke, twin brothers who loved rock music and played the drums and bass respectively. (Alfred also plays kalimba on this record.) The quartet was originally called Jazz Drive and Boxberger describes their style as “electric fusion music.” In 1978 they pursued free jazz, fun for them but confusing to their audience. The twins discovered meditation and the John Handy and Ali Akbar Khan album Karuna Supreme, which led them to experiment with Indian instruments like the kalimba, tabla, and sitar. Jazz Drive became Green Cosmos in 1981 and the following year, they recorded the songs that would comprise Abendmusiken in a friend’s art gallery. They released the album in 1983 on the tiny, now-defunct German label AMF Records, which put out less than a dozen records throughout the decade, all of which look intriguing and seem mostly very unavailable. A few shows were played after the album was released, but the band never managed to go on tour and the members drifted away into other careers. They came together and played for the last time in 1989; Boxberger and Düring never heard from the Franke twins ever again. So mysterious!

It is exceedingly rare in 2025 to come across a record that you have to buy in order to learn absolutely anything about the music (except I guess I just broke the magic by writing this) but certainly that’s one reason I was so drawn to it. The other reason, of course, is that the music is just fucking good. The twins clearly had some sort of psychic connection as the rhythm section; the songs with kalimba are my favorites. Boxberger’s tone is bright and full with the slightest of edges, and Düring’s piano is pliant yet sharp, just a bit reminiscent of Bill Evans in the Miles Davis Quintet. It’s a wonderful album of two modes and it does both well: spiritual jazz and ice-clinking-in-glass jazz.

Abendmusiken (which translates to Evening Music) is being reissued for the first time by Frederiksberg Records, a cool label (founded in New York by Danish video journalist Andreas Vingaard) which specializes in reissues of rare titles and unreleased niche material. (The label’s most important reissue is probably the Danish saxophonist Carsten Meinert’s gorgeous Coltrane homage To You, originally released in 1968, with several additional songs included on this version.) Well worth digging through the 30+ releases available on Bandcamp, you’ll find plenty of gems. (I recently enjoyed A Sunny Day by Kris & Jerry, a husband-and-wife duo from the tiny town of Enfield, Illinois¹. They recorded this one album in 1966 and its blend of folk rock, country, and lounge is, for my money, as good as anything you’ll find in the Numero Group discography.)

Favorite songs: “Über dem Berg,” “Nach dem Sandsturm,” “Kalimba Suite,” “Fools of Paradise”²

Now Reading: Be My Guest by Rachel Ingalls³
Just Watched: The Lives of Others (2006)

1. Looking up Enfield led me to the three-legged Enfield Monster/Enfield Horror, a Midwest cryptid I’d never heard of before! From Wikipedia: “The Enfield Monster refers to reports of an unidentified creature around Enfield, Illinois, United States in April 1973. The reports were covered by the news media at the time, with some suggesting they may have been caused by a wild ape or escaped kangaroo.”

2. The first two translate to “Over the Mountain” and “After the Sandstorm,” titles which I adore.

3. Some publisher should reprint this and have me write the introduction. Just putting it out there!