The odd, idiosyncratic music of Hans Reichel could be described as American primitive, but he was German and sophisticated. The songs collected on the two-disc compilation, Dalbergia Retusa, span a little under two decades and show Reichel in guitar-soli mode. Though he may be alone, the instruments he’s playing sometimes only tangentially resemble guitars.
A confederate of such German free jazz titans as Peter Brötzmann and Rüdiger Carl, Reichel, who died in 2011 at 62, often opted for a gentler approach than his peers, sticking to languid tempos and long, dwelling notes as opposed to corrosive blasts of sound. Yet his airy, even delicate songs have an inherent strangeness linking them to the world of the avant-garde.

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