Azimuth - s/t (1977)

Gave this a fresh spin whilst out on a walk last week, as soon as I felt the first autumnal breeze coming.  Then as the opening insistent piano sequence and Norma Winstone's wordless loveliness washed over me, remembered I still haven't given the album a posting here, to complete the original Azimuth 'trilogy'.  They'd eventually release a fourth and fifth album, but those came nowhere near to capturing the brilliance of the three in the links below.

The trio of the English power couple of jazz (Winstone & Taylor) and Canadian-born Wheeler first came together to record as Azimuth in March 1977.  The result was not only one of the most definitively ECM-sounding records ever, but also offered a jazz-ambient twist on the archetype with Taylor's use of synth.  After the aforementioned opener, and the piano-based O, the looped sequence underpinning the group's title track fades in for twelve minutes of sheer magic.  Winstone floats over the top in drones and gasps, performing an aerial ballet with Wheeler's trumpet smears.

Taylor next returns to piano, but quickly introduces another synth sequence as well, as Winstone begins the first real lyrics on the album then mostly lets Wheeler take the lead for the rest of The Tunnel, another high point.  Wheeler gets a brief solo track afterwards, to set the stage for the beautiful piano-based closer Jacob.  One of the absolutely indispensible crown jewels in the ECM catalogue.

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pw: sgtg

Previously posted at SGTG:
The Touchstone
Départ

Arild Andersen - Molde Concert (expanded edition 2000, orig 1982)

ECM magnificence from the Molde Jazz Festival in August 1981, partly released as a single LP in 1982, then restored to almost (one track from the LP had to be dropped to squeeze in under 80 mins) full glory on CD in 2000.  The great Norwegian bassist was joined for this fine selection of his tunes (plus the Miles Davis/Tony Williams-penned encore) by Bill Frisell on guitar, John Taylor on piano, and sometime Weather Reporter Alphonse Mouzon on drums.

We've mostly heard Taylor and Frisell in mellow modes on this blog up til now (check the label tags for previous posts), and there is a good showing of downtempo loveliness in the Molde setlist - Targeta, Lifelines and Koral for sure - but for the most part, this album absolutely rocks.  Finding the confidence that he recalled wasn't quite there yet on Fluid Rustle, Bill Frisell hits cooking temperature right from the set opener and just gets increasingly jaw dropping from there.

It might just be the fact that he's a jazz guitarist with a full on rock snarl here, but Frisell made me think of Steve Howe at least once - check Cameron near the end, where Andersen also gets a great solo spot.  The 13 minutes of The Sword Beneath His Wings are also a highlight for Frisell and for everyone - Andersen might be the bandleader, but this is very much a firing-on-all-cylinders group effort.  Even the drum solos are awesome, as on Six For Alphonse.  Highly recommended.

original LP cover

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Azimuth - The Touchstone (1978)

Hope you're getting a chance to relax and reflect this week - I am for once; I'm usually at work this week and always wishing I'd just taken the days off.  Managed to think ahead this year, so here's some more Azimuth, this time even more mellifluous and ambient than usual.

Recorded a year and half prior to Départ, The Touchstone ticks all the Azimuth boxes.  It starts with an organ drone (this is where John Taylor started adding the instrument to the Azimuth palette) and Kenny Wheeler's melancholy trumpet smears, before giving way to those circular piano figures and Norma Winstone's soaring voice.

Things then pretty much carry on like that, with one exception - this is the sole Azimuth album (at least out of the original trilogy; my memory's slightly hazy on the '85 and '95 reunions) where Winstone doesn't sing any lyrics at all, but just fills each track with wordless, heavenly vocalising.  This is Azimuth at their most supremely chilled - enjoy.

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Azimuth with Ralph Towner - Départ (1980)

Autumnal ECM loveliness of the highest order.  Of course, that description could apply to about half of the label's catalogue, especially from its mid 70s to early 80s golden era.  This album though, recorded in the last month of the 70s, even has a track named Autumn, complete with suitably evocative lyrics from Norma Winstone.

Winstone, along with John Taylor and Kenny Wheeler, had by this point recorded two wonderfully airy, hypnotic albums as Azimuth, taking as much inspiration from Reichian minimalism as from the British jazz scene of their backgrounds.  For this third outing, ECM 's Manfred Eicher suggested adding a guest guitarist, and all three requested Ralph Towner, who they'd met the previous year.

Towner's chiming 12-string is therefore the first accompaniment to be introduced to album opener The Longest Day, over the top of Taylor's circular piano figures, before Winstone and Wheeler begin to take flight.  He switches to classical guitar for the aforementioned Autumn, and for the first two parts of the Touching Points suite.  This mid-album four-parter is particularly interesting as there's increasingly less typically Azimuth drift and more choppy free improv (especially in the third section), plus a chance to hear Taylor on Terry Riley-esque organ on the fourth section.  He sticks to organ for the gorgeous title track's intro, returning to piano for Winstone's brief haiku-like lyric, before everyone soars into the stratosphere again.

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see also: 
Sounds & Shadows (Towner)
Somewhere Called Home (Winstone with Taylor)
Double, Double You (Wheeler)

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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Norma Winstone - Somewhere Called Home (rec. 1986, rel. 1987)

One of ECM's finest releases of the 80s, and a jewel in the crown among its entire vocal jazz canon, this album was justifiably included in the label's 'Touchstone' series of essentials that were reissued about ten years ago.  English vocalist Norma Winstone had previously appeared on ECM from the late 70s onwards as part of Azimuth; for her first solo venture on the label Winstone retained fellow Azimuth traveller John Taylor (1942-2015) on piano, and brought in Tony Coe on clarinet and tenor sax to perfectly colour the sound.

From Winstone's own English-language arrangement of Egberto Gismonti's Café onwards, the repertoire is perfectly chosen, creating an extended meditation on nostalgia, love and belonging.  A further two ECM legends feature among the writers - the late Kenny Wheeler on the beautifully impressionistic Sea Lady, and Ralph Towner on Celeste, both given a new dimension by Winstone's lyrics.  Her words for Bill Evans' Prologue are another memorable high point on an album full of them; perfect mellow vocal jazz for a spring weekend. Enjoy.

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