ECM Records

Miroslav Vitous: First Meeting (ECM 1145)

| Tyran Grillo

Miroslav Vitous
First Meeting

Miroslav Vitous bass
John Surman soprano saxophone, bass clarinet
Kenny Kirkland piano
Jon Christensen drums
Recorded May 1979 at Talent Studio, Oslo
Engineer: Jan Erik Kongshaug
Produced by Manfred Eicher

Leader Miroslav Vitous is the rare bassist who can negotiate both pizzicato and arco techniques with comparable finesse, bringing the latter to bear upon much of what we hear on First Meeting. The contours of the 11-minute “Silver Lake” epitomize the creative span of the ECM label and its ability to bring together complementary talents that might otherwise never have crossed paths. From its frayed beginnings to the fine braid into which it weaves, Vitous’s passionate anchorage finds perfect foils in Kenny Kirkland’s gorgeous arpeggios, Jon Christensen’s ever-delicate cymbals, and the buoyant stylings of John Surman’s soprano. The latter switches over to a rich, chocolaty bass clarinet for the complementary “Recycle.” Like a memory divided down a drummed middle, it is equal parts regret and hope. Moments of skyward abandon dovetail effortlessly into earthbound runs. Kirkland is especially poignant here, seeming to revel in the feeling of soil between his keys, each a toe pressing into the forgiving earth. This ripple effect spreads to Christensen, who nods a brief solo before Vitous sparks a flowering return. Between these juggernauts thrive two rolling pastures. Surman finds palpable symmetry amid Kirkland’s sublime chording in “Beautiful Place To” and shows off his fluttering delicacy in “Trees.” The ad-libbed title track is more tentative. Coalescing into the barest of grooves, it provides a pleasant conduit into the enchanting bass solo that is “Concerto In Three Parts.” By turns tender and enthralling, it sometimes catches itself in rhythmic hooks, but is mostly content to roam a winding path toward “You Make Me So Happy.” This gorgeous burst of jazz synergy has all the makings of a standard and leaves us basking in sugar.

First Meeting is a breath of fresh light, a testament not only to Vitous’s compositional abilities but also to his sensitivity as a collaborator, and is one of many on a label that continues to abide by the excitement of unimaginable adventures. Each of its facets is a window into a deeply beating heart, where only sound is blood and blood is music.

<< Terje Rypdal: Descendre (ECM 1144)
>> Double Image: Dawn (ECM 1146)

Terje Rypdal: Descendre (ECM 1144)

| Tyran Grillo

ECM 1144

Terje Rypdal
Descendre

Terje Rypdal guitar, keyboards, flute
Palle Mikkelborg trumpet, fluegelhorn, keyboards
Jon Christensen drums, percussion
Recorded March 1979 at Talent Studio, Oslo
Engineer: Jan Erik Kongshaug
Produced by Manfred Eicher

Before hearing the opener that lightens Descendre, I believed that the introduction was a thriving art form. Entitled “Avskjed” (Farewell), it works its distant organ, glockenspiel, and muted trumpet through the nocturnal folds of a weightless security. In a mere three minutes, I hear sunrise, worldly virtue, and restraint rolled into a single entity. Rypdal’s palimpsestial motifs grace the edges of dense brass and sudden exhalations. The album is full of such moments, unexpected and eternal. Nestled in the tessellation of Jon Christensen and Palle Mikkelborg, that unmistakable guitar cuts its swath through the swells and squawks of “Circles,” on through the trembling “Men Of Mystery,” and ending on the delicate considerations of “Speil,” where kaleidoscopic keyboards abound. Standouts include the title track, where Christensen’s melodic sensibilities shine forth and Rypdal’s solos brand themselves into our hearts like the icy stares of advertising icons in Blade Runner, and “Innseiling” (Approach), a masterful slice of transcendence that guides Mikkelborg to glorious heights. With every change of light, bright resolutions and shadowy recollections are revealed, betraying the raging fire behind its glacial surface.

An elegy in emotional unrest, Descendre is a must-have for any Rypdal veteran and greenhorn alike. Like its title, it descends with every sonic verb, reminding us that conjugations never end.

<< Leo Smith: Divine Love (ECM 1143)
>> Miroslav Vitous: First Meeting (ECM 1145)

Wadada Leo Smith: Divine Love (ECM 1143)

| Tyran Grillo

ECM 1143

Wadada Leo Smith
Divine Love

Wadada Leo Smith trumpet, fluegelhorn, steel-o-phone, gongs, percussion
Dwight Andrews alto flute, bass clarinet , tenor saxophone, triangles, mbira
Bobby Naughton vibraharp, marimba, bells
Charlie Haden double-bass
Lester Bowie trumpet
Kenny Wheeler trumpet
Recorded September 1978 at Tonstudio Bauer, Ludwigsburg
Engineer: Martin Wieland
Produced by Manfred Eicher

Wadada Leo Smith’s Divine Love is one of ECM’s most tantalizing jewels, the result of many years ignoring the label’s advances. I can only speculate this was because the immediacy of his craft might have been adversely affected by the interventions of any svelte postproduction. Thankfully, and not surprisingly, Eicher and company gave this effort all the space it needed to breathe, for breath is precisely what this imaginative session is all about.

Since 1970, Smith has been utilizing two systems of musical production: a) rhythm-units, which balance every note produced with an equivalent unit of silence, and b) ahkreanvention, an amalgamated method of “scored improvisation.” The album’s two bookends exemplify the former, while the latter animates the single piece at their center. This structure gilds the recording with a cyclical feel that deepens with every listen. Drifting through the waves of mallet percussion (courtesy of Bobby Naughton) of the title track, each cry materializes as a vessel of indeterminate origin until we lose ourselves in the eddy of “Tastalun,” where muted trumpets (Lester Bowie and Kenny Wheeler join in here) streak the music’s inner language with deep gashes of spontaneous intent. With “Spirituals: The Language Of Love,” we return to where the album began, sailing forth into waters at once opaque and teeming with unseen light.

0413512-R1-E002
From left to right: Bobby Naughton, Wadada Leo Smith, Dwight Andrews
Stuttgart, West Germany, September 1978
(Photo by Fridel Pluff)

While Smith’s presence is felt throughout in his wavering horns and percussion, the alto flute of Dwight Andrews is for me the album’s soul. Smith’s pensive collaboration tries not to evoke beauty, but rather to find in the act of invocation an air of repose. Anyone expecting grooves and catchy tunes will find no foothold. This is a long confession spun from discomforting lucidity. In this trying melody called life, divine love is the truest note.

<< Richard Beirach: Elm (ECM 1142)
>> Terje Rypdal: Descendre (ECM 1144)

Richard Beirach: Elm (ECM 1142)

| Tyran Grillo

ECM 1142

Richard Beirach
Elm

Richard Beirach piano
George Mraz double-bass
Jack DeJohnette drums
Recorded May 1979 at Tonstudio Bauer, Ludwigsburg
Engineer: Martin Wieland
Produced by Manfred Eicher

Nearly five years after his headlining debut, Eon, pianist Richie Beirach stepped into the studio to leave behind his most indelible mark yet. The graceful momentum of the opening “Sea Priesters” is all we need to know exactly what kind of journey this will be. Beirach’s tone sweeps great distances even as it localizes in handfuls of ecstatic melancholy that manage to keep even the most random memories in peculiar order as the rhythm section of Jack DeJohnette and George Mraz ladles its intuition in modest, unquenchable spoonfuls. “Pendulum,” while more upbeat, is also the most reflective track of the set, if only because its contentment seems to stem from a place resigned to life’s iniquities. Its extroverted deployment only intensifies the depth behind it. Mraz brings a particular edge to the trio’s sound here. This is much in contrast to the compelling balladry of “Ki,” which delicately frames our rest before the effervescence of “Snow Leopard” drifts skyward. DeJohnette divines his cymbals like a man possessed, yet without ever losing sight of his surroundings. This leads us to the final, and title, track. An emotionally direct and majestic stroke of sonic brilliance, it resonates like time itself.

Elm has all the makings of a sleeper hit. It is a burnished kaleidoscope of sound: every turn reveals an unrepeatable flower of symmetry. The music is insightful, frank, and eschews any of the pyrotechnics that might have weighed it down. These are musicians of staunch melodic commitment who live their craft so deeply that they seem to know exactly where they are going at all times, waiting only for us to join them at the end of every path drawn. Beirach’s piano is superbly tuned (all hats off to the technicians on this one) and glows under his touch; the beauty of DeJohnette’s timekeeping abilities throughout (especially in “Snow Leopard”) can hardly be overstated, capping off (along with his New Directions European date) as they do a stellar decade in ECM’s hallowed halls; and John Abercrombie Quartet bassist Mraz brings it all home with loving attention.

This may just be Beirach’s best and represents one missed opportunity among many for the Touchstones series. Though only physically available as an expensive Japanese import, it’s worth every yen, and then some.

<< George Adams: Sound Suggestions (ECM 1141)
>> Leo Smith: Divine Love (ECM 1143)

George Adams: Sound Suggestions (ECM 1141)

| Tyran Grillo

1141 X

George Adams
Sound Suggestions

George Adams tenor saxophone, vocal
Heinz Sauer tenor saxophone
Kenny Wheeler trumpet, fluegelhorn
Richard Beirach piano
Dave Holland bass
Jack DeJohnette drums
Recorded May 1979 at Tonstudio Bauer, Ludwigsburg
Engineer: Martin Wieland
Produced by Manfred Eicher

The intensities of Mingus veteran George Adams (1940-1992) took their only dip in the ECM pool with Sound Suggestions. Bringing characteristic fire to every lick, Adams was a force to be reckoned with, as evidenced in his later quartet recordings with Don Pullen for Blue Note. Joined by a stellar cast of label stalwarts, Adams sets alight the fringes of our expectations. His tenor is so luscious in the opener, “Baba,” that we swear we’ve heard it before, the lingering soundtrack to some dream or distant memory. Kenny Wheeler’s flugel paints a high-reaching arc under which Richie Beirach (piano) and Jack DeJohnette (drums) spread their blanket of sand. A lyrical solo from Wheeler bleeds into an equally robust turn from Adams, ending with an exclamation mark. Uplifting themes abound in “Imani’s Dance,” each linked by a mid-tempo groove of finely honed horns. Though head-nodding solos all around make this one a winner, it’s an especially glorious vehicle for DeJohnette’s mastery at the kit. Each of his gestures is one of a base pair, linking into the perfect helix that is “Stay Informed.” Here, a robust tenor gene manifests itself in the album’s most enthralling flight, rendered all the more intense by Beirach’s majestic trails. Segueing into “A Spire,” we find wider spaces, across which both Adams and German reedman Heinz Sauer level their weary songs, all the while backed by chattering cymbals and a rolling snare. The bluesy “Got Somethin’ Good For You” serves up a healthy portion of the voice behind the mouthpiece. Though a knot in the album’s smooth grain, the track is enlivened by a whirlwind of horns.

The musicianship on Sound Suggestions is as tight as the walls at Sacasyhuamán. Adams’s strokes are bold and direct, each a snowflake bronzed and offered to time with ceremonial care. And let us not forget the extraordinary talents of Sauer, whose tenor also graces Adelhard Roidinger’s underappreciated gem, Schattseite. Surely, this is one of ECM’s hottest joints.

<< Gary Burton/Chick Corea: Duet (ECM 1140)
>> Richard Beirach: Elm (ECM 1142)

Mick Goodrick: In Pas(s)ing (ECM 1139)

| Tyran Grillo

1139 X

Mick Goodrick
In Pas(s)ing

Mick Goodrick guitar
John Surman soprano and baritone saxophones, bass clarinet
Eddie Gomez bass
Jack DeJohnette drums
Recorded November 1978 at Talent Studio, Oslo
Engineer: Jan Erik Kongshaug
Produced by Manfred Eicher

After guesting on three Gary Burton collaborations (The New Quartet, Ring, and Dreams So Real), guitarist Mick Goodrick broke out with his first album as leader—and what better place than ECM to open his art to its fullest, for this would be his last recording for the label. In Pas(s)ing consists entirely of Goodrick originals, save for the collectively improvised title cut, giving us an unassuming view of the thoroughly sanded figures that are his themes.

“Feebles, Fables And Ferns” is morning and dusk, a crepuscular confection wrapped in drums (DeJohnette), bass (Gomez), and tenor sax (Surman), and all tied with Goodrick’s sonic filaments. The latter’s airy, John Abercrombie-like tone is pensive and glows like embers. The bass is shallowly miked, making it seem an extension of the guitar. Its player often vocally anticipates his supporting lines, as in the lovely solo granted passage here. Surman’s equally mellifluous sound rolls off the tongue like a poem. “In The Tavern Of Ruin” continues the lush quartet sound, only this time with a brittle edge. Surman leads a slow procession of hooded figures before his soprano trails into Goodrick’s darkening clouds. Distant cries seize us as Surman again wraps his cosmic fabric around our ears. This makes “Summer Band Camp,” the album’s shortest track, all the brighter in its nostalgia. Surman smiles through his sound, as do all gathered, gently kissing the art into which they have grown. Gomez’s doublings add a chorused, rhythmic aphasia that foreshadows an ecstatic close. A tender bass clarinet lacquers “Pedalpusher” with molasses, sealing in an array of tactful changes which do nothing to obscure the phenomenal bass work therein. In closing, we find ourselves “In Passing,” which throbs with yielding yet intense sentiment. DeJohnette stitches a fine seam here, even as Surman cuts his thematic restraints in favor of more visceral forms of communication.

Goodrick’s elasticity throughout is a comforting presence, while Surman shines in what amounts to a starring role. These energies, buoyed by a plastic rhythm section, coalesce into what is easily one of my favorite ECM releases.

<< Paul Motian Trio: Le Voyage (ECM 1138)
>> Gary Burton/Chick Corea: Duet (ECM 1140)

Eberhard Weber: Fluid Rustle (ECM 1137)

| Tyran Grillo

ECM 1137

Eberhard Weber
Fluid Rustle

Eberhard Weber bass, tarang
Bonnie Herman voice
Norma Winstone voice
Gary Burton vibraharp, marimba
Bill Frisell guitar, balalaika
Recorded January 1979 at Tonstudio Bauer, Ludwigsburg
Engineer: Martin Wieland
Produced by Manfred Eicher

As the wind freshened from the south, the red and yellow beech leaves rasped together with a brittle sound, harsher than the fluid rustle of earlier days. It was a time of quiet departures, of the sifting away of all that was not staunch against winter.
–Richard Adams, Watership Down

Although with Fluid Rustle, Eberhard Weber continued to draw upon the Watership Down references that cast 1977’s Silent Feet into such lovely relief, I hesitate to call it program music. Neither are the titles mere frames; they are also the open windows within those frames. Like the rabbits in Adams’s novel, each instrument in “Quiet Departures” is its own vivid personality in a vast warren of possibilities. Such strong metaphorical ties are there to be unraveled, one fiber at a time, by every strike of Gary Burton’s vibes. The introduction of Norma Winstone (in her first non-Azimuth ECM appearance) and Bonnie Herman represents an exciting tectonic shift in Weber’s geology, urging us through an atmospheric tunnel. At its end: a brightly lit solo from Burton, swaying comfortably in Weber’s hammock. This piece beguiles like déjà vu over a buoyant electric guitar (courtesy of Bill Frisell), voices returning on the syllable “Na” for a Tehillim-like consistency. Further textural detail is provided by the twang of the tarang, an Indian banjo played by Weber himself. As Burton switches to marimba, we find ourselves between two electric guitars, throwing sonic confetti from either side, before Weber plunges us into the depths of the title track and its ecstatic dreaming. “A Pale Smile” is a hallucinatory wash of guitars and vibes that works its magic with a Laurie Anderson feel. Weber also has a quiet, heartfelt solo here. “Visible Thoughts” carries us out on a bowed bass laced with percussive breathing and whispers. Painting syncopations with a broader brush, the group fades in an ever-tightening braid of wordless breathing until we are left dry.

The album’s title would seem to characterize the sound and effect of Eberhard Weber’s music in one fell swoop. His presence is felt here more melodically than instrumentally, as he chooses just the right moments to foreground his unfettered sound. And while the absence of keyboardist Rainer Brüninghaus marks a noticeable change in density, it also allows voices that have always been there to emerge from the woodwork and shine.

<< Egberto Gismonti: Solo (ECM 1136)
>> Paul Motian Trio: Le Voyage (ECM 1138)

Egberto Gismonti: Solo (ECM 1136)

| Tyran Grillo

ECM 1136

Egberto Gismonti
Solo

Egberto Gismonti guitars, surdo, piano, cooking bells, voice
Recorded November 1978 at Talent Studio, Oslo
Engineer: Jan Erik Kongshaug
Produced by Manfred Eicher

The prolific output of Brazilian multi-instrumentalist Egberto Gismonti is only partially represented on ECM. Thankfully, what we do have on the label is among his most captivating work, and perhaps none more so than this adroit solo set from the late seventies. By the time he recorded Solo Gismonti had already honed his distinctions to a fine polish in smaller group settings, in particular with his longstanding partner, percussionist Nana Vasconcelos. Drawing from a wealth of inspirations ranging from Maurice Ravel and Django Reinhardt, Gismonti’s is an ever-morphing tapestry of melody and often modest virtuosity.

The sun rises on Solo through the 20-minute “Selva Amazonica, Pau Rolou,” by which Gismonti plants us into his fertile imagination. From that imagination we eventually depart with only the merest glimpses, despite the protracted track times. The opening suite is replete with resonant 8-string guitar and the floating charm of his wordless singing. Touches such as the latter add hints of remembrance, sealing a child’s proverbial innocence with an adult’s creative stamp. Across this steel-stringed landscape Gismonti imprints the tread of the surdo (a bass drum of African origin), then settles into a pre-dawn hymn against a wavering backdrop of cooking bells. A later track, “Salvador,” focuses these same energies into a single guitar, also tailed by a song to the skies. Two piano pieces along the way—“Ano Zero” and “Frevo”—showcase Gismonti’s melodic fragility in even more humbling terms. Through these, he works his augury by less persistent memories. The results fall barely shy of Keith Jarrett at his spirited best. Sunset arrives with the parabolic “Ciranda Nordestina.” After an introductory half-dream in bells, a gentle piano stains us with grand swaths of color, each an emotion in smoke. With every gemstone reaped from the earth, we pursue the rays of light passing through them to their cosmic ends.

As high as his group projects climb, I always prefer the earthiness of Gismonti alone. Perhaps the best place to start any musical journey is with a single guide at your side, and this role he seems more than willing to fulfill.

<< Jan Garbarek Group: Photo With… (ECM 1135)
>> Eberhard Weber: Fluid Rustle (ECM 1137)

Jan Garbarek Group: Photo With… (ECM 1135)

| Tyran Grillo

ECM 1135

Jan Garbarek Group
Photo With…

Jan Garbarek tenor and soprano saxophones
Bill Connors guitar
John Taylor piano
Eberhard Weber bass
Jon Christensen drums
Recorded December 1978 at Talent Studio, Oslo
Engineer: Jan Erik Kongshaug
Produced by Manfred Eicher

Now they are resting
in the fleckless light
separately in unison

like the sacks
of sifted stone stacked
regularly by twos

about the flat roof
ready after lunch
to be opened and strewn

–William Carlos Williams, “Fine Work with Pitch and Copper”

From the flowing introductory licks to the final exhalation that snaps this sonic locket shut, one look at the track listing of this debut nominal album from the Jan Garbarek Group can’t help but remind us of William Carlos Williams. The full title—Photo With Blue Sky, White Cloud, Wires, Windows And A Red Roof—is a Williams verse in itself, each element drawn from the cover photo into a sonic description thereof. Together they form a concept album in the deepest sense, the anatomy of which is known before the music even graces our ears. Garbarek is as incisive as the words, each the tooth of a widening grin.

Melody and circumstance cohabitate the sonorous waves that issue from every new turn that awaits us, and all in a language that is mellifluous, filled with open spaces, and drenched in Garbarek’s sunlit tone. The airy piano stylings of John Taylor and ever-moving bass of Eberhard Weber, not to mention outstanding contributions from guitarist Bill Connor and the omniscient Jon Christensen on drums, make for a most soluble palette. Even in such a pool of bases, Garbarek’s thematic bite loses none of its acidity. His is an ever-shifting kaleidoscope of worldly-wise meditations and humble commentary.

Each piece breaks a piece from the longer title and rolls it out into a photo in its own right. “White Cloud” works its way from the inside out, laying the tender kindling of a solo piano before being set aglow by Garbarek’s deep smolder. Slowly but surely, drums, bass, and electric guitar weave their way into this dreamlike fabric, cinched by soothing legato threads. We keep our eyes on the cover as its “Windows” are hung with lilting harmonies between Garbarek and Taylor. An acoustic guitar speculates through its translucent frame, enhancing Connors’s understated brilliance all the more. “Red Roof” finds Garbarek in a more pentatonic mode in his soaring reverberant passages, while “Wires” gives us a more animated, earthbound concept in which to contemplate the patterns of our psychic dentition. This track is composed not of melodies, but of wing beats tickling the edges of our brains with promises of light, and all the more soothing for its lack of vivid rhythmic separation. Every fragment falls into place in “The Picture,” which sprouts from the piano’s chromatic seeds into a small yet lush garden of life. Garbarek paints delicate images in the snatches of sky afforded to us while Weber’s bass navigates the soil below with the silent knowledge of an earthworm, closing in a gorgeous crepuscular fade.

Photo With… is far more than the “high-quality background music” it has been accused of being elsewhere. It was a finely polished stepping stone for the Norwegian saxophonist and composer, who with its ripples forged a distinct sonic shoreline that we continue to imprint every time we put our ears to its surface.

<< Tom van der Geld: Path (ECM 1134)
>> Egberto Gismonti: Solo (ECM 1136)