By the time of this 1977 solo recording, Dutch pianist Jasper Van’t Hof’s work with American tenor giant Archie Shepp and Van’t Hof’s own ground-braking jazz-fusion group Pork Pie (MPS albums Transitory and The Door is Open) had propelled him into the front row of European players. Flowers Allover profiles his prodigious creativity as a solo pianist, a venue in which he would become increasingly involved over the coming years.

On The Conductor an opening counterpointed line melds into a pulsing left-hand riff and lightning-quick right-hand runs, while “La Truite” Plays Back resounds with a classical Sati-like feel and some exquisite improvisation. In The Door Is Open - Variation Van’t Hof combines space and silence with beautifully conceived improvisation to create a changing impressionistic atmosphere. With Pas De Deux he conjures a dark, undulating landscape, while he plays Madam Octopus in a lighter vein, with a bit of musical legerdemain. Flowers starts off in a stately procession before it bursts forth in a musical bouquet. However entices with its canted augmented chords, relaxed feel, and occasional rapid-fire arpeggios. Van’t Hof ends the album with the beautiful, haunting ballad, Transitory – Variation.    

Recorded some 40 years ago, with its mix of jazz and modern classical influences, Flowers stands up to anything that today’s young lions have to offer.