In no order of preference. Gateway - Homecoming John Abercrombie Ralph Towner - Sargasso Sea John Abercrombie Quartet - Self Titled from 1980 John Abercrombie, Marc Johnson, Peter Erskine, Michael Breker - Getting There John Abercrombie, Jack De Johnette, Jan Hammer - Timeless I'm going to cheat and add 2 more where John was a sideman Charles Lloyd - The Water is Wide & Voice From The Night.
ok, let's see... Towner/Abercrombie - Sargasso Sea (ECM 1080) John Abercrombie - Characters (ECM 1117) John Abercrombie Quartet - M (ECM 1191) John Abercrombie - Night (ECM 1272) Abercrombie/Johnson/Erskine/Surman - November (ECM 1502) "M" is interchangeable with the s/t Quartet album. Can't decide/remember right now, which one I like better.
Colours, I have it and love it, great little collection, sounds terrific. Definitely a title worth checking out, thanks for the post. Among the good suggestions for JA, I second the Current Events title mentioned, great stuff. NP... staying with the live spread from last night... a gift from Eberhard Weber, the full treatment. Playing are his usual musical cohorts, with Gary Burton in the house, and the Stuttgard Radio Symphony Orchestra, Eberhard and Garbaret are going off with astounding solos. One of my favorite shows... very lively and energetic.
We have similar choices, but wow -- I'd never heard Current Events. The first track is totally Metheny-esque. Gateway 2 doesn't regularly get love either. I agree it's a great album. This list would change with my mood, but I'd have to say: 1. Gateway 2. Five Years Later 3. Timeless 4. Characters 5. 39 Steps
A ‘Top 5’ John Abercrombie list? I’ll give it a try! (In no particular order) The Third Quartet Arcade Gateway (w/ DeJohnette and Holland) Timeless Characters But, IMHO, his best playing, for me, is as a sideman. I especially love his work with Kenny Wheeler and Charles Lloyd. Oh and if any of you haven’t seen this documentary, then please check it out:
This is my favorite from Mathias and a very special recording. The inspiration for the record was he was on tour in the U.S. Midwest and Canada and seeing similarities to his home in Norway and thinking of all the immigrants from his home country back in the day, and what they must have thought (and he was thinking) about seeing this new land that had such strong echoes of their homeland. The record is like a story. About a year ago I was listening to this all of the time and I think it was my first exposure to his solo stuff. It really gets into your soul and the way these guys (Thomas Strønen also comes to mind) do this northern folk jazz thing, melding these traditional string instruments with modern composition ideas is just beyond amazing. And having Manfred's producing and Jan Erik's mics and engineering just gets you right in on the music. My first exposure to Mathias was just by accident when I discovered Elvira Nikolaisen and Mathias Eick's I Concentrate on You where he plays multi-instruments and voice and produced the record. That one is worth a check too.
Yeah, I can't say enough about that first cut Clint on Current Events. It's like a masters class on how the great drummers are always the sort of informal leaders of the band. If you just listen to Erskine and Marc Johnson's telepathic thing it's mind blowing in itself. I just sit on the edge of my seat as I listen to how Peter uses his rhythmic timing like a kind of elastic band expanding and contracting the meters from bar to bar. And everybody just stays in synch regardless! The unique sound JA gets out of that synth is also like nothing I've ever heard.
Found this one and While We're Young at my local used CD store last weekend, just giving it a listen today finally. Some nice guitar synth work and it's great to hear Michael Brecker in this context, albeit on only three tracks. First time I've ever heard this one and so far a very enjoyable listen, which is why anytime I find something of Abercrombie's used for a reasonable price it's an auto-buy. As an aside I'm really digging my new Liquid Spark amp and HD6XX headphones - the tone of Brecker's sax right now is just luscious. Making me look forward even more to my regular Sunday morning music time block.
Both of Abercrombie’s albums with Michael Brecker are albums I just can’t get into and this, of course, is my own problem, but I never cared for Brecker’s playing. I don’t think he was the right fit for Abercrombie’s subtle style. If I had to choose, though, between Night and Getting There, Night wins as I found Brecker a bit more tolerable on that album. One of my favorite groups that Abercrombie assembled is the one with Mark Feldman, Marc Johnson, and Joey Baron. Also, his last quartet with Marc Copland, Drew Gress, and Joey Baron was a testament to Abercrombie’s remarkable way of assembling sympathetic musicians who weren’t there to outperform anyone and only cared about the music.
I really love this trio’s work with Tomasz Stanko. Quite possibly some of the best albums recorded in the early 2000s.
I only have really listened to Dark Eyes from Stanko, which I really like. I am going to work my way backwards with MacrcinWasilewski. I really like this live one a lot.
I highly recommend this one: Suspended Night, for me, remains the pinnacle of jazz in the new millennium. I say this with a lot of conviction as I truly believe this album is this generation’s Kind of Blue.
Stanko's earlier quartet with Bobo Stenson, Anders Jormin, and Tony Oxley is also fantastic. Tomasz Stańko - trumpet Bobo Stenson - piano Anders Jormin - bass Tony Oxley - drums
Thanks for the recommendation / nudge. Faithful is one of my favourite albums of the last ten years and live (with the saxophonist whose name escapes me) they were pretty amazing. I've been meaning to pick this up, but I'd forgotten about it. I love Stanko's 'Suspended Night'.
Aside from Blue and Descendre, this is my favorite album from Rypdal. So atmospheric with gorgeous sonorities.
Manu Katché "Neighbourhood" has Tomasz and Marcin and Slawomir Kurkiewicz along with Jan Garbarek. I thought it was too pretty at first, and it is very pretty, but has a nice bite as well.
