Collin Walcott - Cloud Dance (1976)

Essentially John Abercrombie's Gateway Trio with a very different lead voice, in the form of Orgeon/CODONA's multi-instrumentalist (here focusing on his considerable talents on sitar) Collin Walcott (1945-1984).  This stunning record was recorded in the same month as Gateway's debut, right in the white heat of ECM's golden age with a lineup who perfectly merge jazz with Indian musical forms.  

 

Lengthy explorations giving the quartet full chance to shine, like opener Margueritte, sit alongside miniature features for Walcott and Dave Holland such as Prancing and Eastern Song.  Abercrombie is by turns liquid and languid (Night Glider, the lovely title track) and throughly electrified (Scimitar).  Walcott's sublime playing remains the star of this album, and would continue to occupy a unique space in the ECM sound world (including with a reformed Oregon) until his tragic accidental death at the age of 39.

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pw: sgtg

Collin Walcott at SGTG:

Miles Davis - On The Corner

Egberto Gismonti - Sol De Meio Dia

Miles Davis - A Tribute To Jack Johnson (1971)

Soundtrack to a 1970 documentary about heavyweight champion boxer Jack Johnson (1878-1946), and also just an incredible electric-period Miles Davis album; perhaps an even better John McLaughlin album, given the guitarist's starring role.  First released as simply "Jack Johnson", with the LP cover below, all subsequent releases switched to the monochrome image of Miles (which apparently should've been the proper front cover in the first place), and added "A Tribute To" to the title.

Most of the music on the album's two side-long tracks was recorded on 7th April 1970, with inserts from earlier sessions.  Wanting to put together "the greatest rock 'n' roll band you've ever heard", Davis chose McLaughlin, Michael Henderson on bass guitar, Billy Cobham on drums and Steve Grossman on soprano sax to tear through the spontaneous rock groove of Right Off.  Eventually they were joined by Herbie Hancock, who happened to be passing through the studios and was plonked in front of a grungy organ to further electrify the groove at its midpoint.

Yesternow is an altogether weirder listen, with Teo Macero wielding the tape blade for a concoction that even has a brief excerpt of Shhh/Peaceful from In A Silent Way in the mix.  The first thirteen minutes are a much more slow-burning piece a la Ife on Big Fun, then post-Shhh the track jumps to another completely different session from February 1970.  The lineup here includes Sonny Sharrock on second guitar (not sure if it's him or McLaughlin doing that volley of laser-blast effects in the right channel), Chick Corea, Bennie Maupin, Dave Holland and Jack DeJohnette.  At the very end, a calm orchestral outro features a Jack Johnson voiceover performed by actor Brock Peters.  Altogether, A Tribute To Jack Johnson is one of Miles' most scorching electric records, and one that deserves to be just as well appraised as the better known classics like Bitches Brew/Silent Way.

Original LP cover

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Miles Davis at SGTG:
Conception
Walkin'
Blue Moods
Bags' Groove
Miles Ahead (with Gil Evans)
Sketches Of Spain (with Gil Evans)
Quiet Nights (with Gil Evans) 
On The Corner

Big Fun
Agharta

Tomasz Stańko - Balladyna (1976)

As per last week's post, Tomasz Stańko's TWET lineup was mostly retained for his first appearance on ECM, with only Peter Warren switched out for Dave Holland.  And it's the legendary bassist who sparks this album into life, with the propulsive riff that kicks off the aptly named First Song.  Stańko and Szukalski are united on a catchy theme, before going off on some incendiary solos.

The more atmospheric Tale follows, giving Edward Vesala his first feature on his signature range of percussion.  Then there's a Vesala composition, Num - it's a bit more spidery and exploratory as per the darker-hued material on TWET, but never fully loses sight of the great melodic theme that it sets out.  The album's first side concludes with a brief duet between Stańko and Holland.

Side Two comprises three tracks, all composed by Stańko.  The title track is the kind of solemn dirge that would become Stańko's stock in trade when he returned to ECM almost two decades later.  Last Song is more free and firey again - but it's not the actual last song: that's the closing Nenaliina, another great atmospheric feature for Vesala to star in.

Original LP cover

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Previously posted at SGTG:
Jazzmessage From Poland
Purple Sun

TWET
Freelectronic in Montreux
Bluish
Bosonossa And Other Ballads
Matka Joanna 

Wolność W Sierpniu - Freedom In August
Dark Eyes
Wisława
Polin

Pat Metheny, Dave Holland & Roy Haynes - Question And Answer (1990)

Sunny (even though it was recorded just before Christmas) and swinging single-day session from a trio of absolute masters of their craft, effortlessly turning in five Metheny originals, three jazz standards and an Ornette Coleman cover.  It's a well-sequenced hour of uptempo material and some gorgeous ballads, in classic guitar trio format until the album closer - which oddly sounds like it's jumped in from a Pat Metheny Group record, but it's still a great tune so it doesn't jar with the rest of the material.

Pat's on fine form, Dave Holland rock solid and nimble, and the legend that is Roy Haynes.... just.... wow.   Sometimes I feel like this album should've been credited to Haynes first followed by the others, he's just so on point with every single beat and trademark cymbal/hi-hat flourish.  So well recorded, too - if a lover of jazz drumming was ever to tap me for a recommendation, they'd be pointed straight in the direction of this album.

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Pat Metheny at SGTG:
Watercolors
New Chautauqua 
American Garage
As Falls Wichita, So Falls Wichita Falls
Offramp
First Circle
Song X
The Way Up
and featuring Pat:
Dreams So Real
Shadows And Light
The Sound Of Summer Running

Gateway - Homecoming (1995)

Twenty years on from their first session together (posted a couple of weeks back), and seventeen since they'd last recorded, the Gateway trio of John Abercrombie, Dave Holland and Jack DeJohnette reunited in style.  There was plenty of fire left in the trio, as evidenced right from the opening title track - after a cool, swinging earworm of a theme, Abercrombie cranks up the volume and a great group improv ensues.

As with their debut, Holland is the standout songwriter here, penning the title track and also the barreling-forwards Modern Times, the firey groove of How's Never (with a great drum solo) and also the spare In Your Arms.  Abercrombie writes three tunes, including the glowing embers of Waltz New - his guitar tone is never less than a thrill on this record, even when not at full pelt; and DeJohnette pens the closing pair, including a switch to piano on the gorgeous closer Oneness.

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Previously posted at SGTG:
Gateway - First Album
Characters (Abercrombie)
Sargasso Sea / Five Years Later (Abercrombie/Towner)
Pictures (DeJohnette/Abercrombie)

John Abercrombie, Dave Holland & Jack DeJohnette - Gateway (1975)

John Abercrombie, Dave Holland & Jack DeJohnette's first session in March 1975 sparked a classic trio that would lead to a further album in the 70s, and two more in the 90s.  The debut Gateway album, though, isn't just one of the most inspired ECM albums (amongst a mid-70s purple patch where the label churned out classic after classic), it's one of the greatest and most firey guitar trio jazz records ever made.

It all starts though in a deceptively understated mode, as the laidback groove of Back-Woods Song lopes into life with a memorable hook and some effortless finesse in Abercrombie's solos.  Next there's a short diversion to give Holland and DeJohnette the spotlight, then the album really starts to cook.  After another melodic introduction, May Dance spins out into a lengthy free-for-all, giving the group's interplay room to really shine.

The album's second half cranks up a gear with the Abercrombie-DeJohnette head-to-head of Unshielded Desire.  Abercrombie's volume and tone, not to mention sheer chops, are up there with anything John McLaughlin blasted out in the early 70s.  Jamala, another Holland-penned tune out of four on the album, offers some atmospheric breathing space before the final epic of Sorcery.  If Metheny's Bright Size Life from the same era was a dewy Midwestern sunrise, Gateway is a midday scorcher.

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Previously posted at SGTG:
Characters (Abercrombie)
Sargasso Sea / Five Years Later (Abercrombie/Towner)
Pictures (DeJohnette/Abercrombie)

Kenny Wheeler - Double, Double You (1984)

Let's stick around with 80s ECM for another post - and a fine set of tunes from the late Kenny Wheeler (1930-2014), the Canadian-transplanted-to-UK trumpeter who wholly deserves to be namedropped as often as much more familiar names on the instrument.

Four months on from the legendary Jarrett trio recordings that we ended last week with, Jack DeJohnette found himself back in the same studio to give another rock-solid performance - but the real supporting star here as far as I'm concerned is pianist John Taylor, especially on the triptych of songs that takes up the whole second half of the album.  Wheeler and Taylor had of course worked together in Azimuth (I'll post a few of their albums eventually, but if memory serves I think Opium Hum did the essential first one not long ago) and were on telepathic form by this point.

Still haven't mentioned the absolute highlight of Double, Double You - the 14-minute opener, Foxy Trot.  Superbly constructed, with a lengthy, winding theme that constantly seems just about to trip over its own feet before it eventually slams back into the major key to resolve itself into a wonderfully memorable hook.  Everyone sounds great on this one.  Yes, even Michael Brecker, who I ordinarily wouldn't have much interest in - this record appears to have been his sole ECM appearance, and it's a good one all round.

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