Born in 1956, pianist Georg Gräwe was part of the second generation of German improvisers who came up in the slipstream of innovators such as Peter Brötzmann and Alexander von Schlippenbach.

Recorded live in Berlin, his 1976 debut, New Movements, unveiled a blazing and highly imaginative quintet, arriving fully-formed in the wild space those elders blew open. Across three long tracks, the band touches on burning free-jazz and free-bop – with under-sung saxophonist Harald Dau and trumpeter Horst Grabosch blowing hot and full-throated – as well as quieter, more abstract improvisations revealing a sensitive consideration of timbre and Gräwe's rippling agility.

Throughout, there's an attention to form that betrays Gräwe's interest in contemporary classical, taking off from where von Schlippenbach's Globe Unity Orchestra led the way. There's also a sense that Gräwe is extending the reach of the classic hard-bop quintet line-up: fleeting hints of swing flash by in micro-seconds and the thrilling 22-minute title track ends with a fanfaric blast that could be a momentary fragment of Miles Davis’ ‘Directions’.

The quintet's follow-up, recorded in a studio the following year, touches on all these elements in a more controlled setting, with 11 tracks ranging from 30 seconds to just over six minutes – and positively bristles with ideas. Both these albums, originally released by the totemic German FMP label, and here receiving their first-ever reissue, remain fresh and compelling.