Timeless (John Abercrombie album)

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Timeless
Studio album by John Abercrombie

Publication
(s)

1975

Label (s) ECM records

Format (s)

LP, CD

Genre (s)

jazz

Title (number)

6th

running time

43:24

occupation

production

Manfred Eicher

Studio (s)

Generation Sound Studios, New York City

chronology
- Timeless Gateway
1975

Timeless is a jazz album by John Abercrombie , recorded on June 21 and 22, 1974 and released in 1975 by ECM Records .

The album

Timeless was the debut album by 29-year-old guitarist John Abercrombie, who at the time was working with Dave Liebman's Lookout Farm project (which recorded for ECM) as well as in drummer Billy Cobham's fusion band . There he met the keyboardist Jan Hammer , who u. a. had also played with the Mahavishnu Orchestra . For his first record session on the young ECM label, the drummer Jack DeJohnette joined in, who had already recorded the album Ruta and Daitya for the label in 1971 with Keith Jarrett . Hammer and Abercrombie were heavily involved in the fusion movement at the time, and DeJohnette had come into contact with rock jazz at the latest when he was involved in the Miles Davis album Bitches Brew . Musically, Timeless draws on all of these influences, especially Davis' In a Silent Way from 1968, by playing out the more subtle sides of the genre, as can be heard especially on the title track.

The album contains four original compositions by Abercrombie, two of which are by Hammer ("Lungs" and "Red and Orange".) "Lungs" begins with a pulsating organ / guitar interplay, which is strongly influenced by a bass riff played on the Moog synthesizer and influenced by De Johnette's style of drumming. "Love Song" is a duo ballad by Abercrombie played with acoustic instruments; Hammer accompanies him on the piano. The swinging "Ralph's Piano Waltz" shines with polychords and sophisticated tempo changes. Ralph Towner , on whose piano Abercrombie composed the piece and to whom he dedicated the piece, recorded the piece on his 1979 album Solo Concert . Abercrombie plays the electrically amplified guitar again, Jan Hammer the Hammond organ. Just as aggressive as "Lungs" is "Red and Orange", Hammer's second composition. In this piece he plays the organ strongly percussive. "Remembering" is another acoustically played ballad by Abercrombie. The highlight of the record is the title track; Based on a simple melody, the piece begins in a spherical mood that becomes more and more intense in ascending sequences due to the organ in the background, synthesizer effects and DeJohnettes' drumming. The title made John Abercrombie known beyond jazz circles in the mid-1970s.

The titles

Timeless - ECM 1047 ST or 829114-2 (CD edition)

  1. Lungs -12.11 (Jan Hammer)
  2. Love Song -4.35 (John Abercrombie)
  3. Ralph's Piano Waltz -4.55 (John Abercrombie)
  4. Red and Orange -5.24 (Jan Hammer)
  5. Remembering -4.33 (John Abercrombie)
  6. Timeless -11.58 (John Abercrombie)
John Abercrombie (2007)

effect

The album was one of the records released in the mid-1970s such as those by Chick Corea , Keith Jarrett , Ralph Towner or Jan Garbarek , which created the image of the Munich label for the "ECM sound".

The commercial success of Timeless was immediately followed by further recordings by John Abercrombie with various musicians from the ECM “stable” such as Dave Holland ( Gateway , 1975), Collin Walcott ( Cloud Dance , 1975) and Enrico Rava ( The Pilgrim and the Stars ), as well as albums by Ralph Towner , Jack DeJohnettes Band (New) Directions , Barre Phillips ( Mountainscapes ) and Kenny Wheeler ( Deer Wan ). With the “brilliant” debut album Timeless , Abercrombie began a “long and fruitful collaboration” with the Munich label; Cook and Morton give Manfred Eicher great credit for highlighting the so often underrated artist.

evaluation

The weekly newspaper Die Zeit wrote at the time: “This jazz expresses itself most intensely in the fast, most beautifully in the quiet pieces where the sounds acquire exciting plasticity”. The music journal "Stereo" noted: "I can't remember ever hearing such a coherent and - above all - moving debut album". stereoplay counts the album among the "timeless recordings." According to Scott Yanow, it is "thought provoking and at times exciting music that defies categorization at all."

Literature / sources

Web links / sources

Remarks

  1. ↑ Jan Erik Kongshaug was responsible for mixing the Tony May recording
  2. ↑ cf. Cook & Morton, Penguin Guide to Jazz.
  3. ↑ The two reviews are taken from the catalog of the ECM label from 1982.
  4. ^ Review of the John Abercrombie Trio
  5. ^ All Music