by François CoutureTa Lam Zehn is the third installment of German clarinetist/saxophonist Gebhard Ullmann's most imposing project. Phase one (released as Ta Lam on 99 Records) was a multi-track studio recording of saxophones, clarinets, and flutes, all played by Ullmann, with the addition of Hans Hassler on accordion, dating back to 1990. In 1994, Ullmann formed an eight-piece group, Ta Lam Acht, to perform the material live (documented on Moritat, 99 Records) -- that was phase two. Phase three took place during a North American tour in June 1998, as Ullmann had expanded the group to ten musicians, all saxes, clarinets, and flutes with the exception of Hassler's accordion. Ta Lam Zehn was recorded on June 22, 1998, at the Vancouver Jazz Festival. The material arches back to the music of such all-saxophone groups as the Rova Saxophone Quartet or Six Winds, but Ullmann's writing (and the accordion's touch) takes this album further. There is a fundamental sense of fun in his music (evident on the Kreutzberg Park East album): no arid algorithms here. It would be tedious to comment on every musician's performance and blatantly unfair to mention only a few. From the opener "Think Tank" where musicians join in one at a time to the closing variations on Kurt Weill's "Mack the Knife," this album is pure reed delight and one of Ullmann's most significant contributions.