Translation of the German review: 

This review lends itself to writing a tribute to Joachim Ernst Berendt, as the music of Tony Scott And The Indonesian All Stars, with their album "Djanger Bali", provides a good insight into the nature of his work. I knew Mr. Berendt personally because I had to give a lecture on his work "Nada Brama - The World is Sound" at an event at the "Staatliche Technikerschule Berlin" in 1994. To get some additional information, I simply gave him a call, which led to a meeting and further phone calls. I got to know a great jazz expert and a very impressive person. As I had been interested in jazz since my late teens, I was familiar with his book "Das Jazzbuch" and got to know many facets of this music that went beyond what was common at the time. The music journalist and music producer Joachim Ernst Berendt took particular pleasure in discovering daring yet well-functioning ensembles, bringing them to the stage or staging them himself. From the 1960s onwards, Berendt devoted himself to so-called world music, a mixture of Western popular music and traditional non-Western forms of music. He directed many important festivals from the 1950s onwards and was one of the founders of the radio station Südwestfunk (SWF), where he headed the jazz department from 1947 until his retirement in 1987. He had radio and television programs and was widely known. A highlight of his work was certainly the "Jazz and World Music" festival in New York in 1983.

My introduction to this review comes via Joachim Ernst Berendt's work as a producer of numerous records, including for the MPS (Musik Produktion Schwarzwald) label of the legendary Hans Georg Brunner-Schwer, based in Villingen. The recording was made in the SABA recording studio. The traditional German brand SABA (Schwarzwälder Apparate-Bau-Anstalt August Schwer Söhne GmbH) was also based in Villingen and was managed by Hans Georg's brother, Hermann Brunner-Schwer, at the time.

American-born Tony Scott toured Europe and Africa in 1957. As a clarinettist, saxophonist and pianist, he played with Buddy Rich, Ben Webster, Duke Ellington, Bill Evans, Harry Belafonte, Billie Holiday and Sarah Vaughan, among others. From 1959, his travels took him to Japan, Indonesia (Bali), Thailand and Vietnam. With the album "Music for Zen Meditation" in 1964, he made history as a pioneer of world music far beyond the jazz scene. In 1967, he recorded the album "Djanger Bali" with the Indonesian All Stars. In the 1970s, the son of Sicilian immigrants moved to Italy, where he lived until his death.

In 1967, the group Tony Scott And The Indonesian All Stars traveled to Berlin in Germany for a show. I would like to quote Bubi Chen and Jack Lesmana about the album and the tour (liner notes from the current LP edition): “We must play jazz. We have been talking about it for years: where can we play jazz? lt is virtually impossible in lndonesia, and until recently it was not possible at all. But we must play jazz. This is as important to us as eating and drinking. We don’t come to Europe for an extensive, well-staffed tour. We leave that to the Americans. This concert tour is no mere job to us. lt is an adventure. Maybe the most important we can hope for. We want to gain experiences through this tour. Work with other musicians. Debate with them. Get to know European jazz fans. And perhaps we can pass on to other lndonesian jazz musicians some of what we will learn here. We never quit playing jazz even in the years when jazz was not opportune in our country. We had few records in those days. At night we listened to the “Voice of America”.”

Djanger Bali is a Balinese sit-down dance with a melody of the Balinese-Javanese pentatonic pelog scale in gamelan style and also the album title of the Indonesian All Stars. The album became a milestone in modern Indonesian jazz music and traces a musical journey of this country through the inclusion of the Indonesian All Stars. The album cover features an excerpt from a relief of the Borobudur Temple, the largest and most important Buddhist temple complex in the world, known for its colossal pyramid in Magelang, about 25 kilometers northwest of Yogyakarta on the island of Java. The album, produced by Joachim Ernst Berendt, also features traditional Indonesian musical instruments.

On the title track "Djanger Bali", the intro introduces the listener directly to the typical Balinese gamelang sounds. The following, stringently styled theme is led by Tony Scott's clarinet and then taken over by Marjono's saxophone. Yopi Chen's bass and Benny Mustafa's drums seem to drive Bubi Chen into the next piano solo. The guitar playing of Jack Lesmana and the traditional sound units are always present in the background of the piece. With "Mahlke from Katz Und Maus", the listener can expect a "normal" jazz piece. This makes it clear that the Indonesian All Stars know how to play jazz very well. It is very nice to listen to how the musicians play together and at the same time alongside each other. "Gambang Suling" is exotic. After the intro, the driving and rousing rhythm machine is back. There are a lot of exotic instruments to be heard, which seem to pile up with the classical instruments. Thanks to the very transparent recording, everything is very easy to locate. "Ilir-ilir" is the next traditional piece, which is challenging at the beginning and then turns into a jazz piece with exciting instrumental excursions. The musicians are given free rein as soloists and the rhythm section holds the work together. "Burung Kakaktua" invites you to dream. The arrangement allows the music to flow beautifully. Marjono's perfect skill on the flute is striking. Time for "Summertime": Gershwin's all-time classic in an exotic guise from the perspective of the Karawitan tradition. After the intro, the piece takes off like a rocket. Once again, we hear jazz at its finest at the end of the album!

I would like to call this work a high-class and extraordinary cultural adventure, two cultural opposites that at first do not seem to fit together. Listening to it reveals an impressive aesthetic of how music can work across countries and cultures when people with the right ideas and skills are involved. All the musicians are able to realize their themes in a sensational way. Each from their own culture, which is certainly brought to the listener's ears, but in a large context that provides the listener with a high-class, varied and entertaining listening experience. Very well recorded and mastered, this music is ideal for tape. The analog path was not abandoned from the recording to the master tape copy.

Edel Music issued a reissue of the record in 2023 under the MPS label. For this, CS-Mastering (Christoph Stickel) produced an analog vinyl master in addition to the new tape master. In comparison to the "Studio Master Copy" tape from Horch House, the excellently produced 180g record performs very well. It sounds a little brighter than the tape and therefore a tad more upright. The bass is not quite as deep and therefore less contoured than on the tape. Conversely, the bass from the tape has more pressure, more contour and therefore more presence. This makes the overall sound more homogeneous, fluid and compact. The background noise of the record, albeit at a very low level in this case, is less noticeable with this type of music. Nevertheless, the tape is sublime at this point. Conclusion: Yes, the master tape copy is better. However, if you have a high-quality turntable setup, this vinyl comes surprisingly close to the master tape copy. The vinyl edition comes with a 12-page booklet with beautiful photos and a large amount of information about the production.

Translated with www.DeepL.com/Translator (free version)