George Russell - Listen To The Silence (rec. 1971, orig. rel. 1973)

Back to George Russell with another commissioned work, this time for the 1971 Kongsberg Jazz Festival, and recorded at its live premiere performance (with some studio effects added later) on 21st June 1971, Kongsberg Church, Norway.  Taking some lines from Rainer Maria Rilke, Maurice Nicoll, Dee Brown and snippets from Newsweek and the New York Times for its libretto, Listen To The Silence is a choral work calling for two choirs as well as jazz ensemble.  

 

The chanting voices get things underway before Russell, Garbarek & co enter to drive the music forward, and the work continues in this manner with the church acoustics giving the stentorian vocal delivery a definite atmospheric boost.  The instrumental sections are frequently more minimal and stripped-down compared to Russell's other work of the era, but this works in favour of the overall stark mood, and makes the Garbarek-Rypdal section at the start of Event IV all the more outstanding.  Subtitled "A Mass For Our Time", Listen To The Silence might be a bit 'of its time' in subject matter, but it remains a captivating listening experience to this day.

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pw: sgtg

Previously posted at SGTG:

Electronic Sonata For Souls Loved By Nature

Trip To Prillarguri

Othello Ballet Suite

Vertical Event VI

George Russell Sextet feat. Jan Garbarek - Trip To Prillarguri (rec. 1970, rel. 1982)

More live recordings from George Russell and co taped at the Södertälje Estrad, this time back in March 1970 (although not released until 1982, when Soul Note took over their chunk of Russell's material).  This one's a belter - it may as well be Jan Garbarek's Esoteric Circle quartet from 1969 performing live with the addition of Russell on piano and Stanton Davis Jr on trumpet.  Three of the pieces here are Garbarek-penned, including two that appeared on the Esoteric Circle LP.  From Russell's catalogue we get themes from Souls Loved By Nature and the earlier classic Stratusphunk, plus a closing rendition of Ornette Coleman's Man On The Moon.  Electrifying stuff throughout, and a definite highlight in both Russell and Garbarek's discographies.

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pw: sgtg

Previously posted at SGTG:

Electronic Sonata For Souls Loved By Nature

Othello Ballet Suite

Vertical Event VI

George Russell - Othello Ballet Suite / Electronic Organ Sonata No.1 (1970)

Some more George Russell from his Scandinavian period, with Jan Garbarek making the album cover as featured soloist.  The "Othello Ballet Suite" was commissioned by Norwegian television, and this recording made by Radio Sweden in November 1967.  Othello offers just under half an hour of Russell's intricate 'vertical form' compositional style and funky arrangements.  It occasionally suggests a sort of long-form Mingus composition to my ears - complete with what sounds like little teases of Better Git It In Your Soul as a recurring theme.  All great players, including some nice skronky spots for Garbarek to cut loose, and Russell's sextet are backed by the Swedish Radio Symphony Orchestra.

The album, originally released in 1970 by Flying Dutchman, is filled out by a solo organ piece improvised by Russell on an Oslo church organ in October 1968.  This basic recording was then manipulated at the electronic music studio of Radio Sweden, giving it much more avant-garde textures and making for a fascinating closer on the album.

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pw: sgtg

Previously posted at SGTG: Electronic Sonata For Souls Loved By Nature

Jacob Young - Evening Falls (2004)

It's been an ECM kind of week for me, so here we are again, this time jumping back a decade for another guitarist, in his debut with the label recorded in December 2002.  Lillehammer native Jacob Young has been working with some of the hottest names in Nordic jazz since the 90s, and here fronts a two-horn quintet that includes one of my favourite ECM trumpeters of recent years, Mathias Eick.

Rather than put his clear guitar talents front and centre, Young's sound on this set of his own material is a sumptuously arranged and well-meshed group performance of highly lyrical tunes.  The immersive melancholy makes Evening Falls a well-chosen title for just under an hour of late listening.  As well as enjoying Young's lean playing, Eick is the obvious breakout star of this session, but Vidar Johansen sounds fantastic here too, especially when he switches from sax to bass clarinet.  Lovely stuff all round.

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pw: sgtg

George Russell - Electronic Sonata For Souls Loved By Nature (three recordings)

Electronic Sonata For Souls Loved By Nature is the signature work by jazz composer, theorist and pianist George Russell (1923-2009), presented today in no less than three different recordings.  Got hold of these in a Black Saint/Soul Note reissues box, so more Russell to come.  First up, The Essence Of George Russell, which may or may not contain the earliest recording of the Sonata: it's unfortunately the only thing lacking a recording year in the original double LP's notes.

First a drummer, George Russell's key contribution to jazz was as a music theorist championing the Lydian mode, which influenced everyone from Miles Davis and Gil Evans to the young Scandinavian musicians he'd work with on moving there in the 60s, many of whom would become ECM heavyweights.  Listening back to Terje Rypdal's Odyssey box set after hearing Russell is quite enlightening, for example, and it's Rypdal who is the guitarist on the "Essence" recording of Electronic Sonata For Souls Loved By Nature, the lineup also including Jan Garbarek, Arild Andersen and Jon Christensen (you can probably guess by now what drew me to the Russell box).  On the original "Essence" double LP there were two additional pieces making up side four - only one of these, the enjoyably wild Now And Then (recorded 1966), is included on the CD due to time restrictions.

Electronic Sonata For Souls Loved By Nature, then, is structured in 14 segued 'Events': some where propulsive basslines and funky drums drive it forward, and others where the rhythms fall away and Stockhausen-like taped sounds come to the fore, as well as African field recordings.  The writing for horns can be both tight and melodic and much freer, particularly when Garbarek takes the spotlight (Jan's credited as having a hand in composing some themes, presumably these spotlights).  Taken all together, it's a rich and rewarding immersion in early fusion, avant-garde but accessible jazz composition and judicious electronic/tape music integration.

This next recording, originally released on the Flying Dutchman label in 1971, is perhaps the best known.  Soul Note's later reissue added the "1968" to the album cover - I'm not certain why, as Russell's original liner notes state the recording was made at a concert near Oslo in April 1969.  Perhaps "1968" refers to composer revisions that year, e.g. the reduction to sextet -  the larger group of musicians is slimmed down to just the core lineup, who are the same other than Red Mitchell now playing bass rather than Andersen.  This version also ups the tempo in places compared to the "Essence" recording, the whole thing running under an hour compared to just over the hour mark on Essence. 

Russell revisited the Sonata for this 1980 version, recorded in an Italian studio in June of that year with mostly American musicians.  It's recognisably the same work, two continuous sides with seven Events apiece, so hasn't undergone any major compositional reworking.  The turn-of-the-80s studio fidelity does make the ingenuity of the writing and musicians' interplay come across clearer, so it's a worthwhile contrast to the other two recordings.

 

19?? recording (The Essence Of George Russell)

1968 recording

1980 recording

pw for all: sgtg

Garbarek, Rypdal, Stenson, Andersen, Christensen - Sart (1971)

Some more Terje Rypdal today, alongside an all-star cast of ECM legends on one of the label's most memorable releases from its formative years.  Sart is often regarded as a Jan Garbarek album overall, and indeed this is Disc 1 of the Garbarek box set that also covers Witchi Tai To and Dansere (links below), but really everyone in this quintet deserves their equal billing as per the album cover.

Most of side one is taken up by the title track, with Rypdal wah-ing it into gear as a post-Bitches Brew fusion exploration.  Garbarek is in full-on overblown free jazz mode, but Bobo Stenson's calmer piano keeps the track partly rooted in earlier post-bop traditions.  Fountain Of Tears finds Rypdal in even more avant-garde mode, sliding right up the guitar bridge as Garbarek and Stenson get in more fractured soloing.  A mellow ending sees Garbarek switching to flute.

Side two is introduced with a piano solo, and Stenson continues to sound sublime as Rypdal and Garbarek kick Sound Of Space into gear, both turning in great solo spots.  For the remainder of the album, short composing/playing spotlights for Andersen and Rypdal bookend another great group performance.  Essential early ECM at its finest.

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pw: sgtg

Jan Garbarek at SGTG:
Afric Pepperbird (with Rypdal, Andersen & Christensen)
Triptykon (with Andersen)
Popofoni (with Stenson, Rypdal, Andersen & Christensen)

Witchi-Tai-To (with Stenson & Christensen)

Dansere (with Stenson & Christensen)
Solstice: Sounds And Shadows (with Christensen)
Sol De Meio Dia
Paths, Prints (with Christensen)
Song For Everyone
Making Music

Neighbourhood

Jan Garbarek-Bobo Stenson Quartet - Dansere (1975)

More Garbarek-Stenson loveliness to go nicely with the turning of the seasons.  This follow-up to Witchi-Tai-To was notably different in composition - other than one arrangement of a Nordic folk tune, everything was written by Garbarek.  He regarded the 15 minute title track as "a breakthrough point for me, in trying to find the material I feel most at home with", and the album as a whole has the feeling of carving out his comfortable niche in European jazz, right down to all the track titles being in Norwegian.

After that opening trek across the rural open space evoked on the album cover, the rest of Dansere (in English, dancers) progresses in similar atmospheric form.  Svevende aptly conjures up its titular feeling over hovering above great fjords via Christensen's nimble drumming, as the winds blown by Garbarek turn to a full-on icy blast.  Bris (breeze) features the most energetic playing on the record, propelled by Stenson, then a short interlude Skirk & Hyl (cries and howls) is an aptly-described spotlight for Garbarek and Danielsson.  The record settles down again with a traditional shepherding ballad in Lokk, then Christensen heats up the groove just enough for Til Vennene (to friends) to end the album on a bit of indoor warmth.

 

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pw: sgtg

Jan Garbarek at SGTG:
Afric Pepperbird
Triptykon
Popofoni (also includes Stenson & Christensen)

Witchi-Tai-To
Solstice: Sounds And Shadows
Sol De Meio Dia
Paths, Prints
Song For Everyone
Making Music

Neighbourhood

Jan Garbarek - Bobo Stenson Quartet - Witchi-Tai-To (1974)

Dug out this ECM classic for the first time in a long while following that post of Escalator Over The Hill a few weeks back.  Starting off with a lengthy exploration of A.I.R. from EOTH, this album saw Jan Garbarek's windswept, keening mature style begin to solidify in a half-Norwegian half-Swedish quartet.  Bobo Stenson on piano fully deserves his name's co-prominence in this group, with an early highlight being his spotlight performance on Kukka, the only tune written by a member of the quartet (Danielsson).

A firey take on Carlos Puebla's Hasta Siempre spices up the album with a propulsive performance by the late Jon Christensen, closing out the original first side in style.  Over on side two, both Garbarek and Stenson shine on the title track by Jim Pepper, then a full twenty minutes are given over to a group exploration of Don Cherry's Desireless.  A lengthy Stenson solo gives way to a full force gale of Garbarek, and so on.  One of the very best ECM releases from its mid-70s imperial heights.

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pw: sgtg

Jan Garbarek at SGTG:
Afric Pepperbird
Triptykon
Popofoni (also includes Stenson & Christensen)
Solstice: Sounds And Shadows
Sol De Meio Dia
Paths, Prints
Song For Everyone
Making Music

Neighbourhood

Rainer Brüninghaus - Freigeweht (1981)

First album as leader for German pianist Rainer Brüninghaus, perhaps best known in the 70s for working with Eberhard Weber; he'd go on to have a long association with Jan Garbarek.  This gorgeously autumnal record was taped in August 1980, and fleshes out Brüninghaus' piano and synths with flugelhorn (Kenny Wheeler), French horn and oboe (Brynjar Hoff), with the late Jon Christensen on drums.

Much of Freigeweht is built on minimal, cyclical structures which, along with the keyboard textures and the mellifluous brass (not least with Wheeler involved), make the album a must-hear for anyone who likes the early Azimuth sound.  Honestly can't pick a favourite out of these six long-ish trips into turn-of-the-80s ECM magnificence, but the two longest (Radspuren, and the closing title track with its false-fade towards the end) are particularly good for getting lost in.  Highly recommended.

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pw: sgtg

Keith Jarrett - Jan Garbarek Quartet - Belonging (1974)

The 'European Quartet' in their first and most timeless outing, and another chance here to pay tribute to the late Jon Christensen.  Right from the pulsing opener Spiral Dance, Christensen displays just how much he deserved the gig of ECM's house drummer, and remains great throughout these six tracks, all composed by Jarrett.

Two lengthy ballads show off Jarrett and Garbarek in their prime, as do the gospel strut of Gaucho Long As You Know You're Living Yours and the nifty groove of The Windup.  A brief duet between them in the form of the title track completes a truly legendary ECM session.

There's also some classic TV footage of this band floating around YouTube - see below.

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pw: sgtg

Keith Jarrett at SGTG:
Gary Burton & Keith Jarrett
Expectations
The Köln Concert
Hymns/Spheres
G. I. Gurdjieff: Sacred Hymns
Invocations/The Moth And The Flame
Concerts: Bregenz/München
Setting Standards: New York Sessions
Dark Intervals
Changeless
Tribute
Vienna Concert
At The Blue Note: Saturday, June 4th 1994, 1st Set
Tokyo '96
La Scala

Jan Garbarek at SGTG:
Afric Pepperbird
Triptykon
Popofoni
Solstice: Sounds And Shadows
Sol De Meio Dia
Paths, Prints
Song For Everyone
Making Music

Eberhard Weber - Yellow Fields (1976)

R.I.P. Jon Christensen, 20 March 1943 - 18 Feb 2020

Another sad farewell to an ECM jazz legend - Jon Christensen has died at the age of 76, after playing on hundreds of sessions for artists including Keith Jarrett, Jan Garbarek, Eberhard Weber, Ralph Towner, Terje Rypdal... the list goes on and on.  Here's a couple of albums in tribute, and a list of previous posts that featured Jon.

Christensen's tight, steady drumming was an important feature of Eberhard Weber's second album as band leader.  The September 1975 session that produced Yellow Fields also featured Rainer Bruninghaus on keyboards and Charlie Mariano on reeds, and saw Weber's music simplify a little from the almost progressive rock-like structures of his debut album.  What emerged was a smooth but propulsive jazz fusion with great expressive leads from Mariano, some timelessly cool grooves on the keys from Bruninghaus, and rock solid backing from Weber and Christensen.

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pw: sgtg

Jan Garbarek - Paths, Prints (1982)

Jon Christensen had played with Jan Garbarek since the late 60s, and would continue working with him through the 90s.  He provided the perfect base for this keyboardless December 1981 date, again pairing up with Weber's instantly recognisable bass tone as Garbarek and Bill Frisell dripped across the sonic picture like rain on glass.  I tend to tread carefully into 80s Garbarek and beyond, but this album has aged well and is very much a piece with the classic ECM aesthetic.  Kite Dance and the closer Still are particularly lovely.

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pw: sgtg

Previously posted at SGTG featuring Jon Christensen:
Afric Pepperbird (Garbarek/Rypdal/Andersen/Christensen)
Popofoni (Garbarek/Rypdal/Stenson/Andersen/Christensen etc)
Waves (Rypdal/Mikkelborg/Hovensjø/Christensen)
Solstice: Sound And Shadows (Towner/Garbarek/Weber/Christensen)
Bluish (Stańko/Andersen/Christensen)
The Sea (Bjørnstad/Rypdal/Darling/Christensen)

Terje Rypdal - Waves (1978)

Quintessential late-70s ECM from the label's legendary ice & fire Norwegian guitarist, Waves could almost be co-credited to Danish trumpeter Palle Mikkelborg, who made his first appearance alongside Rypdal here.  On opener Per Ulv, which would become one of Rypdal's most famous tunes, a Heart Of Glass-style rhythm machine introduces the guitarist's long, fluid meanderings before the track snaps back to a funky chorus led by Mikkelborg.  This pattern continues, making a memorable track of contrasts.  Karusell, the slower piece that follows, puts Mikkelborg in the spotlight, and he's even the writer of the strangely ominous circus-like Stenskoven that closes the album's first half.

On the title track, Rypdal re-establishes that this is still very much his record, painting eerie shapes on top of the bed of synths and fuzz bass from the great Sveinung Hovensjø, before Rypdal and Mikkelborg's lines start to weave around each other.  The Dain Curse moves the energy up several notches for the toughest funk on the album, before the synths come back for closing track Charisma.  It's not a full-on mellow out to end this great record, as Rypdal has plenty of soaring, razor-sharp lines still to put out there.  Highly recommended from start to finish.

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pw: sgtg

Various Artists (incl. Jan Garbarek Quartet) - Popofoni (1973)

Anyone watching the Åpen Post show on Norwegian TV on 6th March 1969 (which I doubt will include any readers here, but you never know -YouTube link, sorry no subtitles) would've caught a fascinating, bizarre debate about pop music/popular culture vs. classical music/high art.  The programme caught the attention of Arne Nordheim, previously featured on these pages here, and of the Ny Musikk organisation and the Henie-Onstad arts centre.

The plan was hatched (in an uncanny precedent for Ode To Marilyn) to get hold of some prime Nordic musicians - step forward Jan Garbarek, Bobo Stenson, Arild Andersen, Jon Christensen and Terje Rypdal - and have them collaborate with some of Norway's foremost modern composers to produce music that would represent a meeting point between popular music and the avant-garde.  Arne Nordheim, Alfred Janson, Gunnar Sønstevold, Kåre Kolberg and the soon-to-be ECM-ers, plus additional musicians, duly obliged, and a concert of the results was held in April 1970.  Three years later, this limited-edition double album emerged as a document of the project, which had been titled Popofoni.

The six tracks here are certainly fascinating, essential listening, especially if you're familiar with early ECM classics like Afric Pepperbird / Sart / Rypdal's debut.  Imagine these records with a whole extra layer of avant-garde composition/production over the top, and that's pretty much what Popofoni sounds like.

The 20-minute opener Arnold, composed by Gunnar Sønstevold, is a free jazz groove with echo-laden vocals wafting over the top, and occasional organ and tape effects.  Nordheim's two tracks that follow are even better works in the same vein, with the eerie collage of Solar Plexus (his first response to the TV debate) ending in a scratchy, sampled dance orchestra, a hail of gunfire then an emptying sink (or toilet?).  The second disc is dominated by Alfred Janson's 25-minute Valse Triste, where the jazz musicians veer between free playing and lounge pastiche, feeling their way towards the eventual schlager payoff, whilst spoken samples of the TV debate pepper the sonic landscape.  Kåre Kolberg's Blow Up Your Dreams is a more succinct attempt at stretching a conventional song (sung by Karin Krog) to fit an avant-garde frame, and as a closer we get a brief Rypdal composition in which he plays flute rather than guitar.  An utterly essential collection.

Original double-LP cover

Disc 1
Disc 2
pw: sgtg

Ralph Towner - Solstice: Sound And Shadows (1977)

The last two postings of ECM guitarists both went down well, so here's a third; a third American as well, in Washingtonian Ralph Towner.  Towner's trademark sound, based on chiming 12-string guitars and nylon-string guitars more classical in leaning than jazz, was always going to be a great fit when placed among one of ECM's Nordic crack teams.  So when he was matched up with Jan Garbarek, Eberhard Weber and Jon Christensen for 1975's Solstice, an instant classic was born, and this lesser-known sequel from two years later deserves equal appreciation.

Five fairly lengthy tracks here, giving each player a chance to shine and these rambling, autumnal pieces room to roam.  Distant Hills is the perfect opener, with soft-focus layers of Towner's guitars, stately Garbarek solos, and a subtle underpinning from Weber and Christensen.  For all his guitar genius, it shouldn't be forgotten how good a pianist Towner is as well, and Arion, a definite highlight for me, shows it beautifully.

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Tomasz Stańko - Bluish (1991)

Triptykon made me dig this out - primarily to listen to more Arild Andersen in a trio format, where he turns in another rock solid performance, this time underpinning Tomasz Stańko.  The trumpeter was just emerging from an incredibly strange fusion era in the 80s (someday I'll post Freelectronic In Montreux, it's hilarious) and got right back to basics with this sublime trio recording.  Well, there's just three instruments credited; not sure what's going on in the two takes of Andersen's composition If You Look Enough, whether it's a vestigial synth or just delay effects on the bass or suchlike.

Bluish, "named after the place in your brain that is responsible for your addictions" (Stańko, in a 2010 autobiography) would've been a perfect ECM release - drummer Jon Christensen rounds out the trio.  In 1991 however, Stańko was still three years away from long-term commitment to the Eicher stable, so Bluish came out on a Polish label; luckily, it's still fairly easy to get hold of on CD.

Stańko would eventually hit ECM on an deeply melancholy, grey-streaked note that saturated his work for the rest of the 90s.  On Bluish, there's only hints toward this, notably on Third Heavy Ballad.  For the most part, this a light, airy album that swings, takes odd little diversions that could only be Stańko (notwithstanding the Andersen-composed bookends), and generally revels in its tight-but-loose atmosphere of mature free jazz at its most understated and effective.

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Bjørnstad / Darling / Rypdal / Christensen - The Sea (1995)

I've still got tons of 90s ECM to discover.  By the middle of that decade, an increasingly prolific release schedule saw Manfred Eicher's portfolio diversify more than ever into modern (and not so modern) composed music, world music, American and European jazz, and various hybrids of all of the above.  The Sea is one of the 'hybrid' ones - it's certainly not jazz - and it's an outstanding jewel in this era of ECM.

Norweigan pianist Ketil Bjørnstad captains us through this voyage in his simple, understated style.  More muso listeners sometimes dismiss Bjørnstad as a facile composer and techincally deficient pianist, but he sounds great to me - and people don't criticise the likes of Harold Budd for only playing a few notes (or do they?).  Anyway, as soon as we've left shore it's clear that we're not in for a bucolic, fairweather journey.  Cellist David Darling paints an overcast, gathering sky throughout, and ECM "house drummer" Jon Christensen supplies the rain by sticking mostly to cymbals, with the occasional distant rumble of thunder. Beneath these unforgiving skies, the sea itself is only periodically calm as Terje Rypdal whips up squall after squall of choppy, rocky waves of overdriven guitar.

It's often said that this album is a tad overlong, and to be fair it is 75 minutes of music in very similar textural terrain.  Helpfully, Parts I-VI are a neat 45 minutes in length, and VII-XII a compact half-hour: I've often dug this album out and just listened to half of it at a time.  If you're in the mood for it though, just go the distance and stay on board for the whole trip - there's nothing quite like it. (Well, other than 'The Sea II'(1998) by the same quartet, which I haven't heard yet but is very much on my to-do list.)

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Jan Garbarek Quartet - Afric Pepperbird (1970)

Another gem from my favourite jazz label, this time one of its earliest (only the seventh to be released), and for my money its first masterpiece. All four of these eventual ECM mainstays - Jan Garbarek, Terje Rypdal, Arild Andersen and Jon Christensen - make their debut appearance on the label here, recording a bracing but surprisingly accessible set of four lengthy pieces and four minatures.

Garbarek was still in thrall to Albert Ayler at this early stage in his career, and there's plenty of free jazz blowing around here. Scarabee, however, opens the album subtly with the beginnings of the tone that Garbarek would become known for, with just the occasional skronk, surrounded by twinkling percussion.  Eventually he lets rip, but the track as a whole still leaves lots of space, not least thanks to Christensen supplying a rock-solid foundation.  Beast of Kommodo, the album's longest track, shows off Garbarek's versatility as a reedsman, while Terje Rypdal sticks to one insistent riff until eventually getting an almost bluesy solo, in contrast to his later, more identifiable style.

On Side 2, both Blow Away Zone and the title track start out with Garbarek and Rypdal playing in unison.  On the former, Rypdal goes on to make striking use of a slide up at the bridge of his guitar.  Meanwhile Garbarek is at his freeest, with his 60s free jazz influences clearly on display, sounding more than once like a train whistle on its way from Oslo straight to Valhalla.  Afric Pepperbird itself settles into a swampy groove, with Rypdal breaking out the wah pedal.  All in all, a highly recommended early high water mark from a unique label starting to stake out its territory.

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P.S. check out this quartet in concert from a year later!