April 19, 2026
Dalbergia Retusa - Hans Reichel
Label: Black Truffle
Catalog #: BT139
Location: Australia
Release Date: March 13, 2026
Media: double vinyl or digital files
bandcamp.com entry
discogs.com entry
Dalbergia Retusa is a compilation of guitar music by Hans Reichel, originally released on FMP in the 1970's, 80's and 90's. In the opinion of the staff of the Poison Pie Publishing House, Reichel is one of the masters of non-idiomatic improvisation as rendered through guitar of this era. While his impact may not equal that of Derek Bailey, the utterly unique vision that he brought to the instrument is of the same caliber. Part of the original sound of the music results from the fact that he was also a luthier, building his own guitars with unconventional architecture, which accommodated unusual techniques, such as playing behind the bridge. The music on this compilation is gorgeous, some of the finest created in the twentieth century, at least that's how we feel.
There is something for everyone with open ears on Dalbergia Retusa. For listeners new to Reichel, these two lps contain a wealth of music to discover. The cd reissues on FMP not to mention the original lps are long out of print. This compilation therefore fulfills a need. Ardent fans of Reichel through the decades can enjoy the compilation as a reason to again pay special attention to songs listened to many times over. Even the PPPH staff found one track that had eluded them over the decades, Mariahilf (live version) from For Example - Workshop Freie Musik 1969 - 1978. Additionally, several tracks make their appearance on vinyl for the first time, as the end of Reichel's career overlapped with the compact disc, so late albums like Coco Bolo Nights never had a vinyl release.
We find no fault with the selection of tracks. It's hard to go wrong. The choice of tracks here agrees in good part with our private compilation of an hour of essential Reichel, assembled at the time of Reichel's death in 2011, including essentials such as The Call and Could Be Nice Too.
This compilation features Reichel's guitar music only. It wholly excludes music of the daxophone. Obviously, here at the PPPH, we are also daxophone fans, as evidenced by our masthead, a font of Reichel's created using daxophone stick images. During Reichel's life, his daxophone collaborations with Kazuhisa Uchihashi began. Since that time, Kazuhisa Uchihashi has carried the torch of the daxophone forward as no one else has. We direct interested listeners to some of the related reviews below and note that Uchihashi has also reissued Reichel's second daxophone operetta, Yuxo, in 2021.
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