Who the Heck Is Max Hacker?

Max Hacker - ts,ss,bcl Tino Derado - p Paul Imm - b Heinrich Koebberling - dr 'What a pleasant surprise! A CD of new music! No gimmicks, no concept, not world music! Just a really great CD of originals and standards from a former sax student and his rhythm section. Max studied with me in 1996 when I was teaching my jazz ensemble class at the New York City New School. Now eight years later I have the pleasure of writing these notes for him. His tone is his own, but his main influences of Joe Henderson and John Coltrane shine through as they should. The Rhythm section is smokin´, and also very sensitive to the changing colours of Max´s original compositions (especially on 'Graduation' and 'Murray Hill'). Tino is smooth, swingin´ slick and new-yorked-out! Heinrich, an old friend and also a former student, sounds as great as usual with his creative and strong personal approach. Max plays an unusual rendition of Strayhorn´s 'Day Dream', but on soprano sax and in a graceful 5/4 tempo. Nice! On U.M.M.G. - another great Strayhorn original - Max has given us a tenor sax, bass and drums texture in a medium bright tempo. Here we can feel the ghost of Joe Henderson - smiling down, of course! But Max has his own approach and it´s a motherfucker! Please enjouy this music from some very good German and American (what´s the difference?) jazz players! Richie Beirach.