Open Secrets is a solo bass album by Peter Kowald. It was recorded in January 1988 at the FMP Studio in Berlin, and was released on LP later that year by the FMP label.[1][2] FMP reissued the album on CD in 2008.[3]
The authors of the Penguin Guide to Jazz Recordings called the album "a remarkable record," noting that it "makes a steady progress through areas that sound predetermined but which are encountered according to chance-driven logic that throws up challenging transitions and juxtapositions."[4] In a review for All About Jazz, Nic Jones stated that the album "presents the sound of a formidable technician without letting that dubious asset get in the way of musical expression. The results are compelling."[5]
Writing for Point of Departure, Francesco Martinelli described the album as an "exceptional snapshot of [Kowald's] life and art," and commented: "There are so many different things going on on this recording that time flashes by and at the end one cannot wait to hear it again."[6] Bill Meyer of Dusted Magazine wrote: "this record's nine tracks are marvelously focused, the musical ideas succinctly articulated, the soul behind them ever evident."[7] In an article for Paris Transatlantic, Clifford Allen remarked: "Each of these vignettes contains a heavy dose of personality, and you can hear Kowald the human being throughout."[8]
