Dave Pike Set Infra Red LP 1972 BASF 20739 1st US Press Volker Kriegel Very Groovy Archival Sleeve

Every time I listen to this Groovy recording I think of Go Go Boots  ??

Underrated collaboration between Dave Pike and Volker Kriegel that sits beautifully at the intersection of their two wonderfully imaginative careers. A touch more eclectic than Gary Burton’s excellent late 60s collaborations with Larry Coryell and Steve Swallow, the writing and playing are prophetic for the decade to come.

David Samuel Pike (March 23, 1938 – October 3, 2015) was an American jazz vibraphone and marimba player. He appeared on many albums by Nick Brignola, Paul Bley and Kenny Clarke, Bill Evans, and Herbie Mann. He also recorded extensively as leader, including a number of albums on MPS Records.

Pike moved to Europe and signed with MPS Records. With the collaboration of Volker Kriegel (guitar), J. A. Rettenbacher (acoustic and electric bass), and Peter Baumeister (drums), he formed the Dave Pike Set. The group recorded six records from 1969 to 1972 that ran the gamut from funky grooves to free, textural territory.Though short-lived, the group created a unique identity and textural palette.Kriegel's compositional and instrumental (playing acoustic, classical and electric guitar as well as sitar) contributions to the group helped set the Dave Pike Set's sound apart, organically incorporating influences from jazz, soul jazz, psychedelia, avant-garde music and world music.

Volker Kriegel (24 December 1943 – 14 June 2003) was a German jazz guitarist and composer who was a founding member of the United Jazz + Rock Ensemble. He was also an author and a cartoonist.

The Detroit-born vibraphonist and marimba player Dave Pike was a veteran of flautist Herbie Mann's early 60s soul jazz groups, and a leader who had recorded with Bill Evans, Reggie Workman and Herbie Hancock, when he decamped for Europe in the late 1960s. There he hooked up with stellar guitarist Volker Kriegel, bassist J.A. Rettenbacher, and drummer Peter Baumeister to form the short-lived Dave Pike Set and record for the adventurous German MPS Records label. The Pike Set's recently reissued third album Infra-Red from 1970 reveals a psychedelic groove band as capable of trippy . .