Favorite ECM Recordings w/ Guitarists?
Phil
favorites by, or that that feature, guitarists and see what your
favorites are as well:
* Pat Metheny - "Bright Size Life" (Still my favorite PM album)
* John Abercrombie - "Timeless" (This whole album just flows so
nicely)
* Mick Goodrick - "In Pas(s)ing" (Wish Mick would have recorded more
on ECM)
* Kenny Wheeler - "Angel Song" (featuring Bill Frisell. Amazing
comping. Wish I had some clue what he was doing.)
* Ralph Towner - "Open Letter" ("Waltz for Debbie" is lovely times
100)
* Gary Burton - "Dreams So Real" (Mick Goodrick's solo on "Vox Humana"
is a masterpiece, a composition in itself.)
-Phil
Phil
Forgot to add:
* Steve Elliovson - "Dawn Dance" (Not as well known as the others, but
I was thrilled when it was reissued on CD)
Joe Finn
"Phil" <pdem...@yahoo.com> wrote in message
news:3a3af30d-f8df-4a9c...@q18g2000vbn.googlegroups.com...
On Feb 25, 11:45 am, Phil <pdema...@yahoo.com> wrote:
> I love ECM records. I really do. Thought I'd post a few of my
> favorites by, or that that feature, guitarists and see what your
> favorites are as well:
>
> * Pat Metheny - "Bright Size Life" (Still my favorite PM album)
>
> * John Abercrombie - "Timeless" (This whole album just flows so
> nicely)
>
> * Mick Goodrick - "In Pas(s)ing" (Wish Mick would have recorded more
> on ECM)
>
> * Kenny Wheeler - "Angel Song" (featuring Bill Frisell. Amazing
> comping. Wish I had some clue what he was doing.)
>
> * Ralph Towner - "Open Letter" ("Waltz for Debbie" is lovely times
> 100)
>
> * Gary Burton - "Dreams So Real" (Mick Goodrick's solo on "Vox Humana"
> is a masterpiece, a composition in itself.)
>
> -Phil
I have an old one with Ralph Towner and Gary Burton called Matchbook that I
really like. ....joe
--
Visit me on the web www.JoeFinn.net
Biffy the Elephant Shrew
Odyssey, Whenever I Seem to Be Far Away, and What Comes After.
John Abercrombie/Dave Holland/Jack DeJohnette: Gateway
Ralph Towner: Solstice
Ditto on the already mentioned Bright Size Life and Mathcbook.
Your pal,
Biffy the Elephant Shrew
acm...@comcast.net
> I love ECM records. I really do. Thought I'd post a few of my
> favorites by, or that that feature, guitarists and see what your
> favorites are as well:
>
> * Pat Metheny - "Bright Size Life" (Still my favorite PM album)
I'm with ya but in defense of all the other ECM offerings I've barely
scratched the surface...this one just happened to stick large.
"Watercolors" might be second just for "Lakes" alone.
Rob
Charles Lloyd - "Hyperion with Higgins"!
Ric
Anything with Ralph Towner, but Solstice is a personal favorite.
A few others:
Gateway - John Abercrombie [also his work with Jack DeJohnette's
Directions on ECM]
Jan Garbarek - Photo With [Bill Connors]
Bill Frisell - Lookout for Hope
John Abercrombie - Timeless
Terje Rypdal - Odyssey
Sargasso Sea - Towner and Abercrombie
Gary Burton - Passengers [Metheny] and Ring [Metheny and Goodrick] -
recently 'rediscovered' these recordings as they were in the rack of
LP's
Bill Connors - Of Mist and Melting
and so many others...
josh
Dave Holland's Extensions
With Steve Coleman Kevin Eubanks and Smitty Smith
Phil
>
> - Show quoted text -
There's one I didn't know about. *THE* Kevin Eubanks?
Ric
That's a good one I forgot about - I need to pull that out for a listen
paul s
So much great stuff here. A few that I like that haven't been
mentioned -
It's ok to listen to the gray voice by Jan Garbarek (with David Torn)
It Should Have Happened A Long Time Ago by Paul Motian (w Bill
Frisell)
John Abercrombie Quartet , has anyone seen this on CD? I saw this
band live a few times, amazing.
I happened to listen to Metheny's Bright Size Life recently, it sure
holds up well!
Paul S
Mark & Steven Bornfeld
> Anything by Terje Rypdal. Especially the early-mid '70s stuff, like
> Odyssey, Whenever I Seem to Be Far Away, and What Comes After.
Wow--I agree, though I sometimes felt like I needed an antidepressant
afterwards. I haven't listened to him in years. Hope I can find these
somewhere in my apartment.
Steve
>
> John Abercrombie/Dave Holland/Jack DeJohnette: Gateway
>
> Ralph Towner: Solstice
>
> Ditto on the already mentioned Bright Size Life and Mathcbook.
>
> Your pal,
> Biffy the Elephant Shrew
--
Mark & Steven Bornfeld DDS
http://www.dentaltwins.com
Brooklyn, NY
718-258-5001
Marc Why
> > Dave Holland's Extensions
> > With Steve Coleman Kevin Eubanks and Smitty Smith- Hide quoted text -
>
> > - Show quoted text -
>
>
Hmm, what do you mean -- that you didn't know this album, or you
didn't know Kevin was a Monster guitarist? "Extensions" is probably
one of my favorite jazz albums of all time, and Kevin's sound is
unbeatable. And the fact that he's getting this sound with his
fingers -- not a pick -- kills me! This is a must-have recording.
Peace,
Marc
sri883
The Star's" ("Parks" is one great ballad), Bill Connor's "Theme To The
Gaurdian", Pat Metheny "80-81" and Keith Jarret "My Song".
"Phil" <pdem...@yahoo.com> wrote in message
news:26c1bb25-7b0e-431a...@q1g2000vbn.googlegroups.com...
pmfan57
> My all time favorite's are Gary Burton's "Ring", Enrico Rava's "Pilgrim And
> The Star's" ("Parks" is one great ballad), Bill Connor's "Theme To The
> Gaurdian", Pat Metheny "80-81" and Keith Jarret "My Song".
>
>
> news:26c1bb25-7b0e-431a...@q1g2000vbn.googlegroups.com...
>
> >I love ECM records. I really do. Thought I'd post a few of my
> > favorites by, or that that feature, guitarists and see what your
> > favorites are as well:
>
> > * Pat Metheny - "Bright Size Life" (Still my favorite PM album)
>
> > * John Abercrombie - "Timeless" (This whole album just flows so
> > nicely)
>
> > * Mick Goodrick - "In Pas(s)ing" (Wish Mick would have recorded more
> > on ECM)
>
> > * Kenny Wheeler - "Angel Song" (featuring Bill Frisell. Amazing
> > comping. Wish I had some clue what he was doing.)
>
> > * Ralph Towner - "Open Letter" ("Waltz for Debbie" is lovely times
> > 100)
>
> > * Gary Burton - "Dreams So Real" (Mick Goodrick's solo on "Vox Humana"
> > is a masterpiece, a composition in itself.)
>
> > -Phil
What in the world is a "Gaurdian" anyway? I always wondered if that
was a miss-print and they just never corrected it.
Phil
Didn't know about the album -- and I've never really checked out Kevin
Eubanks as a guitarist. Sounds like I should!
Marc Why
> Didn't know about the album -- and I've never really checked out Kevin
> Eubanks as a guitarist. Sounds like I should!
Hi Phil,
Definitely check out Kevin's stuff! Most of his recent solo albums
you can find on his web site (http://www.kevineubanks.com) but you
should also look around for earlier Blue Note and ECM stuff. He has a
great trio album, "Live at Bradley's" I think it's called, that's just
fantastic. Lots of stuff on youtube as well, if you want to see him
in action.
Have fun,
Marc
Mark & Steven Bornfeld
> at least part of it there?
> okay, i'll give it a go:
>
> Rypdal---->perhaps the quintessential ECM guitarist to my mind.Has a
> gazillion goosepimply moments on this label, and i have a couple dozen
> favorite moments myself. Terje was kind of northern Europe’s jazz/
> fusion Siamese step-cousin to rock guitarists like Jeff Beck, david
> gilmore and Dick dale (maybe it's the strat......?). Anyway, ten
> zillion great moments abound in his quadrillion ECM releases, but
> check as a desperate man's desert island choices, check every last bit
> of After the Rain, all the solos on Water Stories (maybe his best
> guest soloist stint ever ), and the early, but intense Eurocentric
> take on Miles' Bitches Brew in What Comes After ,and a few of the
> strings and tight fusion arrangements on If mountain Could sing, the
> power trio and even (gasp) Van Halenisims of the first Chaser's CD and
> a few of the lovely, lushly orchestral bits on Lux Aeterna....i forgot
> a few for sure as a buch of others have a great cut here and there,
> but i intentionally didn't include such often-mentioned recordings as
> the vitous /DeJohnette recordings or the other non-Water stories David
> darling collabs. Great pile of players there for sure, and Rypdal is
> rypdal, but none of these are noooooowhere near the level of the
> recordings i singled out,IMO. Btw, i had the opportunity to studywith/
> playfor David Darling when i a teenager, and he was a great,
> enthusiastic guy who gave me a lot of possitive encouragement, but
> i'll never forget one day when he took me aside and told me that he
> thought Terje Rypdal was "better than Van Halen" but tha he was
> unknown to Americans only because he was a European .This was 80 or
> 81 after EVH had broke on the scene and was already cosidered to be a
> serious bad-ass rock guy....but i really honestly think he (DD) didn't
> actually realize that EVH had already influenced Rypda himself later
> in life, which i think is a serious credit to Terje (as he was already
> a well- established guy with a well-deserved rep on the world
> stage).
>
> Towner----->okay, perhaps the quintessential ECM guitarist if it's not
> Rypdal.Iwas fortunate enough to attend a master class with Towner and
> Abercrombie when they were touting Saragossa Sea, and Towner shared a
> lot of beautiful information with playing examples ,like when you set
> a thing in motion, it's still there in the listener's mind if you drop
> it and move on to another, related idea.The trick is to set it into
> motion, a thin that might require less repetition than you'd think,
> too.True story: i bought my first Oregon record, Distant Hills, with
> money from my paper route by riding my 10speed bike to the neighboring
> town of Westboro, Mass and picking it out of the bin at the now
> defunct Caldor's department store. On the way home i pulled off into a
> stereophonic, bug humming field and stared at the back of the album
> cover wondering what the hell a classical guitar, oboe, upright bass,
> and sitar /tabla could possibly sound like together......man, i was on
> my way! Towner's an amazing guy on the nylon string....a kind of like
> Bill Evans meets Villa Lobos ,but to me it was always his 12-string
> that stood WAY out. Not a lot of guys made this instrument theirs,
> Robbie Basho comes to mind pretty quick and Leo Kottke too, but man
> Towner really took it out.And if you don't believe me look no further
> than the record Ralph Towner with Glen Moore Trios/Solos.Anyone
> familiar with this record?it's kind of an ECM throwaway in the great
> pantheon of accepted classics, but interestingly enough, I think
> Towner has some of his best (and i've heard a pile!) solo 12-string
> playing on this record \\check out the cuts 1 X 12 and 3 X 12.
>
> Frisell------>okay, well if the quintessential ECM guitarist if it's
> not Rypdal or towner, than it's frisell. What can you say......he's
> recorded with everybody and always sounds great despite having been a
> ten trillion recordings.Got to open for him and Tim Berne in the
> Worcester Science Center's Planetarium supporting their Theoretically
> recording .And man was it great to sit a few inches from Frisell's SG
> as he bent the neck and challenged the truss rod to deny him his
> microtonal, pedal steel ,lonely whistle sonorities.
>
> Metheny--------->okay, well if the quintessential ECM guitarist if
> it's not Rypdal or towner then it's Metheny. Never thought much of his
> pre- Bright Sized Life output, but if BSL isn't a quintessential
> genius in debut recording then i don't know what is. just an aside in
> all this \as I really have no vested opinion as i'm really neither a
> fan nor a not-fan, but rather tend to see Metheny in the context of
> the great ECM guitar pantheon, of which I see him as an honorary
> member in that tradition doing entirely HIS thing. However, i am old
> enough to remember that Metheny WAS, at least initially, heavily
> slagged by many of his contemporaries as a kind of bubblegum jazz
> guitarist (more of less ala Kenny G today) because of his long locks
> and toothbrush augmented guitarstrap and whatever else it was that got
> under the orthodox mainstreamers panties back then and had them in a
> huff.......funny how times have and have not changed, no? BTW, saw
> Miles Davis With Mike Stern on guitar OPEN for pat metheny in a free
> concert on the Boston commons.I Shudder to think of whatMiles had to
> say about that!!!!!! But suffice it to say that while my teenaged mind
> was blown away by Miles and Stern, Metheny really upped the anti as i
> saw it back then, and turned in a remakable performance.
>
> Gismonti----->perhaps the most underrated/underappreciated of the
> great ECM guitarists?
>
> Torn-------->man-o-man-ohhhhh-man. check the first everyman band
> record...............check it, just check it. In much the same way
> that Coryell and McLaughlin had brought the dynamic of Hendrix and
> '60s psychedelia to jazz guitar before him, it's my contention that
> David Torn brought a Robert K. Dick-like futuristic dynamic of
> EddieVan Halen and '80s heavy metal to the jazz guitar milieu with his
> playing on the first Everyman Band record. But unlike Coryell and
> McLaughlin's pioneering jazz-rock work which had many guitarist
> following in their footsteps, I can't think of hardly anyone who
> really followed up Torn's example--not even Torn himself! (Actually,
> Torn's playing on Jan Garbarek's It's OK To Listen To The Gray Voice
> is a nice bit of middle ground between the more exotic loop based
> sound that he's best known for today and this singular sort of early
> heavy metal-fusion sound.) Many players might mention Holdsworth as
> the first example of this sort, as he influenced Van Halen and clearly
> Torn as well on the first Everyman Band recording , but there's a
> stylistic aggressiveness and attitude there that really separates
> Torn's debut ECM recording with the Everyman band from anything else
> Mark my words…..this record is a future benchmark that will have to
> await it's time.
>
> Tibbetts----------------->the Minnesota native was already a well-
> respected underground legend for his indepently released solo
> recordings before he signed on to EcM. And hey, anybody remotely jazz-
> related who says something to the effect of "who wouldn’t you rather
> listen too ,Lemmy of Earl Klugh?” is cool coool COOL in my book.
> Anyway, i saw tibbets live at the WAG a few times, and man was he
> great. For a duo they had an absolutely HUGE and BEAUTIFUL sound with
> percussionist Marc Anderson really being every bit as amazing as ST
> alternating between a plethora of hand percussion, steel drums, and a
> modified trap kit. Also, Tibbetts got a massive distorted tone by
> using an obscure effect called a compander--->I.e. an expander/
> compressor which enables the signal to open up into a huge and
> aggressive attack.
> Fwiw one of my big hero/ motivators is a Minnesota guy--no, not
> Prince, though he's a pretty underrated guitarist and real talent/
> phenomena in his own right--Sigurd Olson. I know he was a
> controversial figure there as he was hung in effigy outside the court
> by a group of local good ole boys over the boundary waters canoe area
> wilderness act , but good for him, and god (or whatever) bless
> him…..and for what it's worth it was his early, quasi-spiritual /
> religious experiences out-of-doors as described by David backe that
> drew me to him as an oddly simpatico personage.
>
> Abercrombie-------------------> kind of the great utility guy, or 7th
> player award guy of the classic ECM guitar stable. Abercrombie always
> took a forward-thinking, equal-opportunity approach to either the
> world fusion of a Nana Vasconcelo or Conlon Walcott, or the meanish
> John McLaughlin-esqe fusion of Timeless or the first Gateway recording
> or Liberman's '73 recording, Lookout Farm .Never had a singular,
> defining style but almost always sounded good,
>
> Bill Connors----------> another ECM chameleon type guy who stood
> somewhat outside of the excepted pantheon of individualistic, stylized
> ECM guitarists. Always liked his guitar, vibes, flute/sax trio
> recordings with Tom Van Der Geld a lot .
>
> Am I forgetting anybody? Well, of course I am, as there were a ton of
> other relevant guitarists who recorded under the ECM banner, ranging
> from Steve Vai to John Schofield to Derek Bailey to Mike Stern (et
> al.) to more obscure figures like Eliovson, Hajo Webern,Ulich
> Ingenbold , and Om's Christy doran Etc etc etc.
>
> http://www.myspace.com/danstearns
Great writeup--you had me smiling--especially your "minimalist" praise
for Gismonti. I only have his first album--honestly, I think I enjoyed
his piano pieces more.
Did anyone enjoy the Coryell/Catherine albums, or am I just too declasse?
Steve
Biffy the Elephant Shrew
> What in the world is a "Gaurdian" anyway? I always wondered if that
> was a miss-print and they just never corrected it.
That always bugged me, too. Probably too much of a stretch to imagine
that it's a sly reference to the British newspaper The Guardian, once
so noted for misprints that it became popularly known as The Grauniad.
mike...@gmail.com
Just about all of Frisell's recordings.
Another I like a lot is Michael Mantler's "Something There" with Mike
Stern blowing over the London Symphony Orchestra.
Des Higgins
Later that Evening by Eberhard Weber (with Bill Frisell)
Keith Freeman
> Eubanks as a guitarist. Sounds like I should!
His first album, Guitarist, is fantastic.
-Keith
Clips, Portable Changes, tips etc.: www.keithfreemantrio.nl
e-mail: info AT keithfreemantrio DOT nl
pmfan57
wrote:
> ECM introduced, established, supported and broke an astonishing array
> of unique instrumentalists over the years--not to mention
> photographers like Franco Fontana by way of their cover art and design
> layout. However, they were not without detractors or controversy.
> Manfred Eicher, who founded ECM records and thoroughly applied his
> personal vision to the whole style and sound of the label...so much so
> you really had to be either sympathetic to his aesthetic, or you had
> to take it as part and parcel of that ECM sound while listening to
> whatever ECM recordings of theirs you were interested in hearing.
> Interestingly, Eicher was a huge Bergman fan, and there is a bit of an
> apt comparison there..... at least in as much as that both Eicher and
> Bergman had a singular vision colored by an strong aesthetic and
> always did things his way despite having an astonishing strong host of
> willing artists to work with. Okay, enough contemplating the
> aesthetics of ECM and its impact as an artistic entity--how about just
> trying to list the amazing guitarists that made their rep, or at least
> part of it, on ECM recordings?
>
> Rypdal---->to my mind he's perhaps the quintessential ECM guitarist.
> Terje was kind of northern Europe’s jazz/fusion Siamese step-cousin to
> gilmore---maybe it's the strat, or the abandon and perceived slop, or
> perhaps the overall emotive impact? Anyway, he had a gazillion
> goosepimply moments on ECM, and i have a couple dozen personal desert
> island choices. Okay, to start with, every last bit of After the Rain,
> all the solos on Water Stories (maybe his best stint as a guest
> soloist ever), the early, but intensely Eurocentric take on Miles'
> Bitches Brew in What Comes After (especially "Tight ,like that") ,a
> few of the strings and tight fusion arrangements on If mountain Could
> Chaser's CD and a few of the lovely, lushly orchestral bits on Lux
> Aeterna ....there is no doubt that i have i forgot a few, as a bunch
> of others have great, stunning cuts here and there. But i also
> intentionally didn't include a few of the other often-mentioned
> recordings like the vitous /DeJohnette recording "To be continued" or
> the other Bjornstad’ non-Water stories recordings, and David darling
> collab. Great, great players on there of course, and Rypdal is always
> at least worthy a listen, but none of these are nowhere near the level
> of the recordings i singled out,IMpO. Btw, i had the opportunity to
> studywith/playfor David Darling when i a teenager, and he was a great
> enthusiastic guy who gave me a lot of positive encouragement and
> advice. But i'll never forget one day when he took me aside and told
> me that he thought Terje Rypdal was the best guitarist in the world,
> "better than Van Halen" i think he said, but that he was unknown only
> because he was a European and not an American .This was probably 81 or
> 82 after EVH had broke on the scene and was already considered to be a
> serious bad-ass rock guy....and while i surely had a more pronounced
> liking for Rypdal myself, i honestly David honestly didn't realize
> that EVH had already influenced Rydal himself a bit here and there; an
> amazing thing for an already established, world-class artist late in
> their professional career. Like Miles, who clearly understood the
> implications and potential resources of a Jimi Hendrix, this as much
> as anything underscores the non-orthodox, unselfishly creative mindset
> of Terje rypdal----and hats off to that, no?
>
> Towner----->okay, perhaps the quintessential ECM guitarist if it's not
> Abercrombie when they were touring their great Saragossa Sea
> recording, and Towner shared a lot of beautiful information complete
> with playing examples----like when you set a thing properly in motion,
> it's still there in the listener's mind even if you drop it entirely
> and move on to another different, though related idea.The trick is to
> truly set it into motion, a thing that might require less repetition
> than you'd think, too. Ok,True story: i bought my first Oregon
> record ,Distant Hills, with money from my paper route on summer day by
> riding my 10speed to the neighboring town of Westboro, Mass and
> picking it out of the record bin at the now defunct Caldor's
> department store. On the way home i pulled off into a sizzling,
> stereophonic bug humming field and stared at the back of the album
> cover for a long time wondering what the hell a classical guitar,
> oboe, upright bass, and sitar /tabla could possibly sound like
> the nylon string....a kind of like Bill Evans meets leo Brower,but for
> me it was always his 12-string that stood WAY out in contrast to what
> others were doing in that context . Not a lot of guys made this
> instrument theirs....i saw Coryell two or three times dueting with
> polish violinist Michael Urbaniak, and in this setting he almost
> exclusively played the 12-string.However ,he was more of less playing
> what he always played acoustically, only faster than you'd expect
> circular picking on a 12-string. Though other players, like Robbie
> Basho who comes to mind pretty quickly, and Leo Kottke too, added some
> other, non-sixstring dimension to it. But man, Towner really took it
> out there into Towner-land........and hey, if if you don't believe me,
> just look no further than Ralph Towner with Glen Moore Trios/Solos
> record.Anyone familiar with this recording?it's no doubt a kind of an
> ECM throwaway in the great pantheon of accepted classics, but
> string playing (and i've heard a pile too) on this record....,so, if
> you can, check out the cuts 1 X 12 and 3 X 12---amazing stuff.
>
> Frisell------>okay, well if the quintessential ECM guitarist isn't
> Rypdal or Towner, than it's certainly frisell. What can you say at
> this point......he's recorded with everybody and always sounds great
> despite having been on ten trillion recordings in a zillion different
> settings, and next to Metheny he's definitely the most influential ECM
> guitarist. I was lucky enough to open for him and Tim Berne at the
> WCUW JazzFest in the Worcester Science Center's Planetarium while they
> were supporting their record Theoretically .And man was it great to
> sit a few inches from the bespectacled Frisell and his SG as he bent
> the neck and challenged the truss rod to deny him his microtonal,
>
> Metheny--------->okay, well if the quintessential ECM guitarist if
> their most influential recording artist. Listening back, it's amazing,
> considering his pre- Bright Sized Life output that BSL just screamed,
> quintessential genius in his debut recording......and it's still my
> favorite Pat Metheny record by far, even after all these years. Just
> an aside in all this, as I really don't have a vested opinion not
> being devoted big fan or a devoted not-fan. I rather tend to see
> Metheny in the context of the great ECM guitar pantheon, and perhaps
> even more so, the great jazz guitar pantheon, both of which I see him
> in as an honorary member in that given milieu doing his thing. Oddly
> enough, Metheny wasn't always a well-respected jazz guitarist, as i'm
> old enough to remember that Metheny was, at least initially, heavily
> slagged by many of his jazz contemporaries as a kind of bubblegum jazz
> musician---more of less ala Kenny G today.....funny how times have and
> have not changed, no? BTW, i saw Miles Davis With Mike Stern on guitar
> OPEN for pat metheny in a free concert on the Boston commons,and i
> Shudder to think of what Miles had to say during negations on the
> tour! Anyway, Stern was great that night, but Metheny really upped the
> anti as i saw it back then, and he and his band turned in a remarkable
> performance that really stood above.
>
> Gismonti----->A real marvel, and perhaps the most underrated/
> underappreciated member of the great ECM guitar pantheon.
>
> Torn-------->man-o-man-ohhhhh-man. check the first everyman band
> In much the same way that Coryell and McLaughlin had brought the
> dynamic of Hendrix and '60s psychedelia to jazz guitar before him,
> it's my contention that David Torn brought a Robert K. Dick-like
> Ornette Coleman and heavy metal adds something beyond the electro
> magnetic fence to what's already there as jazz guitar....well Torn did
> just that with his playing on the first Everyman Band record. But
> unlike Coryell and McLaughlin's pioneering work, which had many
> guitarist following in their footsteps, I can't think of hardly anyone
> who really followed up Torn's example--not even Torn himself!
> (Actually, Torn's playing on Jan Garbarek's It's OK To Listen To The
> exotic loop-based sound that he's best known for today and this
> singular sort of early heavy metal-jazz/rock-fusion sound.) Many
> players might mention Holdsworth as the first example of this sort, as
> he influenced Van Halen and clearly Torn as well on the first Everyman
> apart from most players with his Coltrane-like dedication to
> improvisation. But there's a stylistic aggressiveness and attitude
> there that really separates Torn's debut ECM recording with the
> first.....this record is a future benchmark that jut has to await it's
> time.
>
> Tibbetts----------------->the Minnesota native was already a well-
> recordings before he signed on to ECM. And hey, anybody remotely jazz-
> related who says something to the effect of "who wouldn’t you rather
> especially if they make a music like Tibbetts did. Anyway, i saw
> tibbets live at the WAG a few times, and man was he great. For a duo
> they had an absolutely HUGE and BEAUTIFUL sound with percussionist
> drums, and a modified trap kit really being every bit as amazing as
> Tibbetts. Also, Tibbetts occasionally got a massively garish,
> distorted tone by using an obscure effect called a compander--->I.e.
> an expander/ compressor which enables the signal to open up into a
> one of my personal big time hero/ motivators was another Minnesota guy
> (no, not Prince, though he's a pretty underrated guitarist and real
> talent/phenomena in his own right) Sigurd Olson. I know he was a
> controversial figure locally as he was hung in effigy outside the
> courthouse by a group of local good ole boys over the boundary waters
> canoe area wilderness act. Well good for him, and god (or whatever)
> bless him and his snowshoes and canoes--and for what it's worth, it
> was his early, quasi-spiritual /religious experiences out-of-doors as
> described by David backe that drew me to him as an oddly simpatico
> personage.
>
> Abercrombie-------------------> kind of the great utility guy, or 7th
> player award guy of the classic ECM guitar stable. Abercrombie always
> Nana Vasconcelo or Conlon Walcott, or the meanish John McLaughlin-esqe
> jazz-rock of Liberman's '73 recording, Lookout Farm .Never had a
> singular, defining style per se, but almost always sounded good and
> was also much more of a mainstream jazzer than anyother big-time ECMer
> aside from Methany and Frisell.
>
> Bill Connors----------> another ECM chameleon type guy who stood
> somewhat outside of the excepted pantheon of individualistic, stylized
> always liked his guitar, vibes, flute/sax trio recordings with Tom Van
> Der Geld a lot despite any obvious originality in his approach.
>
> Am I forgetting anybody? Well, of course I am, as there were a ton of
> other relevant guitarists who recorded under the ECM banner,
> Steve Vai to John Schofield to Derek Bailey to Mike Stern and beyond,
> it's hard not to leave somebody deserving a mention out, such as more
> obscure figures like Eliovson, Hajo Webern,Ulich Ingenbold , and Om's
>
> http://www.myspace.com/danstearns
Can you elaborate?
Jim Fogarty
> I love ECM records. I really do. Thought I'd post a few of my
> favorites by, or that that feature, guitarists and see what your
> favorites are as well:
>
> * Pat Metheny - "Bright Size Life" (Still my favorite PM album)
>
> * John Abercrombie - "Timeless" (This whole album just flows so
> nicely)
>
> * Mick Goodrick - "In Pas(s)ing" (Wish Mick would have recorded more
> on ECM)
>
> * Kenny Wheeler - "Angel Song" (featuring Bill Frisell. Amazing
> comping. Wish I had some clue what he was doing.)
>
> * Ralph Towner - "Open Letter" ("Waltz for Debbie" is lovely times
> 100)
>
> * Gary Burton - "Dreams So Real" (Mick Goodrick's solo on "Vox Humana"
> is a masterpiece, a composition in itself.)
>
> -Phil
David Torn's "Cloud About Mercury" is a work of genius. His latest
"Prezens", with Tim Berne is just about as good.
I also really dig Eubanks on Dave Holland's "Extensions".
danstearns
read it over and tried to edited it into something a bit better than a
quick reply, so i've since reposted that bit. Anyway,i'm with
you......the Coryell and Catherine records, Splendid and Twin House
really brought out some of Coryell's best attributes in the all-
acoustic realm of his endeavors. Coryell is often beaten up over his
massively uneven oeuvre, but I think this duo and some of the restless
mind and Tributaries--check Little B's Poem, or Mother's Day--or even
parts of two for the road with Steve Kahn ,show him at his best in
this regard. But the Coryell and Catherine records really were the
most consistent IMO.
danstearns
that moderation’s never going to be a strong suit..... but hell, I
guess an obsessive compulsion disorder is only as useful as its
coordinates, right?
tomw...@gmail.com
wrote:
> David Torn brought
> a Phillip K. Dick-like futuristic dynamic to jazz where EddieVan Halen
> is re-envisioned as Ornette Coleman and heavy metal adds something
> beyond the electro magnetic fence to what's already there as jazz
> guitar....well Torn did just that with his playing on the first
> Everyman Band record. But unlike Coryell and McLaughlin's pioneering
> work, which had many guitarist following in their footsteps, I can't
> think of hardly anyone who really followed up Torn's example--not even
> Torn himself!
For anyone who might be interested, Torn began playing with the
Everyman Band guys when they were Lou Reed's back-up band. It was the
first band he played with after years of having been with his own
quasi-cooperatively led band The Zobo Funn Band. I saw him play a gig
with both bands -- one set with each. He told me that it was hard for
him to adjust to playing in the new band. He much preferred playing
with the old band(I preferred listening to the Everyman Band). After
he split with the Everyman Band he played solo with loops for several
years. He's the one guitarist who -- when I watch him perform -- I
have zero understanding how what I see him do relates to what I'm
hearing.
Kevin Collins
> Didn't know about the album -- and I've never really checked out Kevin
> Eubanks as a guitarist. Sounds like I should!
I'm on the bandwagon as far as this album is concerned, and I really
wish Dave Holland would have a guitarist in his group again, there
being several in the latest generation who seem as though they'd fit
the role perfectly. This quartet is made up of four of my favorite
players of their instruments, and while Eubanks' tone is a little
artificial for my own use it has a certain nastiness to it and he
really employs different levels of touch and attack to bring about
great effect. His interplay with Smitty's very overt style on the
first track alone is worth the price of the disc, too. Coleman's sense
of pocket and the unpredictability of his lines are always ear-
catching and his work here is no exception to that.
Eubanks put out some really cool acoustic material around this time,
also with Smitty and Holland but with a gentler vibe and
instrumentation, which is worth your continued investigation, imo.
-Kevin
car...@gmail.com
recommended recordings?
Also, I'm a big Abercrombie fan; I love his own stuff and as a
sideman, although I 'm mostly familiar with the Charles Lloyd stuff.
What other recordings of his as a sideman on ECM would you recommend?
Thanks.
Nick
On Feb 27, 9:48 am, danstearns <daniel_anthony_stea...@yahoo.com>
wrote:
> ECM introduced, established, supported, and broke an astonishing array
> of unique instrumentalists over the years,not to mention photographers
> like Franco Fontana by way of their cover art and design layout.
> However, they were not without detractors or controversy. Manfred
> Eicher, who founded ECM records and thoroughly applied his personal
> vision to the whole style and sound of the label, did so to such a
> degree that you really had to be either sympathetic to his aesthetic,
> or you had to take that as part and parcel of that ECM sound while
> listening past that on to whatever ECM recordings of theirs you were
> interested in hearing solely for the musicians it featured.
> Interestingly, Eicher was a huge Bergman fan, and there is a bit of an
> apt comparison there..... at least in as much as that both Eicher and
> Bergman had a singular vision colored by an strong aesthetic and
> always did things their way despite having an astonishing strong host
> of willing artists with which to work with. Okay, enough contemplating
> the aesthetics of ECM and its impact as an artistic entity--how about
> just trying to list the amazing guitarists that made their rep, or at
> least part of it, on ECM recordings?
>
> Rypdal---->to my mind he's perhaps the quintessential ECM guitarist.
> Terje was kind of northern Europe's jazz/fusion Siamese step-cousin to
> non-jazz guitarists like Jeff Beck, Dick Dale, or even pink floyd's
> david gilmore---maybe it's the strat, or the abandon and perceived
> slop that results in that.... or perhaps the overall emotive impact?
> Anyway, he had a gazillion goosepimply moments on ECM, and i have a
> couple dozen personal desert island favorites. Okay, to start with,
> every last bit of After the Rain, all the solos on Water Stories
> (maybe his best stint as a guest soloist ever), the early, intensely
> Eurocentric take on Miles' Bitches Brew on the self-titled 1971
> recording, Terje Rypdal--especially the opening and last tracks, "Keep
> it like That Tight" and "Tough Enough" ,a few of the strings and tight
> fusion arrangements on If mountain Could sing, the power trio and even
> (gasp) Van Halenisims on the first Chaser's CD, a few of the lovely,
> lushly orchestral bits on Lux Aeterna, especially the title cut of the
> final movement, lux Aeterna, and, well, on and on it would go if it
> weren't for the fact that i have probably forgotten a few and a bunch
> of others have great, stunning cuts here and there, like the title cut
> on Skywards for example. But i also intentionally didn't include a few
> of the other often-mentioned recordings like the vitous /DeJohnette
> recording "To be continued" or the other Bjornstad’ non-Water stories
> recordings, and the David Darling duets. Great, great players on there
> one-and-all of course, and Rypdal is always at the very least worthy
> of a listen as a guitarist, but none of these are near the level of
> the recordings i singled out,IMpO. Btw, i had the opportunity to study
> with/play for David Darling when i a teenager, and he was a great
> enthusiastic guy who gave me a lot of positive encouragement and
> advice. But i'll never forget one day when he took me aside and told
> me that he thought Terje Rypdal was the best guitarist in the world,
> "better than Van Halen" i think he said, and that he was unknown only
> because he was a European and not an American .This was probably 81 or
> 82 after EVH had pretty thoroughly broke on the scene and was already
> considered to be a serious bad-ass rock guitar guy....and while i
> surely had a more pronounced liking for Rypdal myself, i honestly
> think David didn't realize that EVH had probably already at that point
> influenced Rydal himself to a certain degree here and
> there..........an amazing thing really for an already established,
> world-class artist late in their professional career. Like Miles, who
> clearly understood the implications and potential resources of Jimi
> Hendrix, this, as much as anything else, underscores the non-orthodox,
> unselfishly creative mindset of someone like a Terje rypdal----and
> hats off to that, no?
>
> Towner--->okay, well if it Rypdal isn't the guy, then Ralph Towner
> definitely is! I was fortunate enough to attend a master class with
> Towner and Abercrombie when they were touring their great Saragossa
> Sea recording, and Towner shared a lot of beautiful information
> complete with playing examples----like when you set a thing properly
> in motion, it's still there in the listener's mind even if you drop it
> entirely and move on to another different, though related idea.The
> trick is to truly set it into motion, a thing that might require less
> repetition than you'd think, too. Ok,True story: i bought my first
> Oregon record ,Distant Hills, with money from my paper route on summer
> day by riding my 10speed to the neighboring town of Westboro,
> Massachusettts and picking it out of the record bin at the now defunct
> Caldor's department store. On the way home i pulled off into a
> sizzling, stereophonic bug humming field and stared at the back of the
> album cover for a long time wondering what the hell a classical
> guitar, oboe, upright bass, and sitar /tabla could possibly sound like
> together......man, was i on my way or what? Towner's an amazing guy on
> the nylon string....a kind of like Bill Evans meets leo Brower,but for
> me it was always his 12-string that stood WAY out in contrast to what
> others were doing in that context . Not a lot of guys made this
> instrument theirs....i saw Coryell two or three times dueting with
> polish violinist Michael Urbaniak, and in this setting he almost
> exclusively played the 12-string.However ,he was more of less playing
> what he always played acoustically, only faster than you'd expect
> circular picking on a 12-string. Other players, especially Robbie
> Basho who comes right to mind, and Leo Kottke added some other, non-
> sixstring personality and dimension to it. But man, Towner really took
> it out there into Towner-land........and hey, if if you don't believe
> me, just look no further than Ralph Towner with Glen Moore Trios/Solos
> record.Anyone familiar with this recording?it's no doubt a kind of an
> ECM throwaway in the great pantheon of accepted classics, but
> interestingly enough I think Towner has some of his best solo 12-
> string playing (and i've heard a pile too) on this record....so, if
> you can, check out the cuts 1 X 12 and 3 X 12---amazing stuff.
>
> Frisell------>okay, well if the quintessential ECM guitarist isn't
> Rypdal or Towner, then it's certainly frisell. I mean what can you say
> at this point......he's recorded with everybody and everybody else’s
> uncle... he always sounds great despite having been on ten trillion
> recordings in a zillion diametrically opposed settings, and next to
> Metheny he's definitely the most universally influential ECM
> guitarist. I was lucky enough to open for him and Tim Berne at the
> WCUW JazzFest in the Worcester, Massachusetts Science Center's
> Planetarium while they were supporting their record Theoretically .And
> man was it great to sit a few inches from the bespectacled Frisell and
> his SG as he bent the neck and challenged the truss rod to deny him
> his microtonal, lonely whistle sonorities.
>
> Metheny--------->okay, well if the quintessential ECM guitarist isn't
> Rypdal or towner or Frisell, then there might be space for an argument
> that it's Metheny. Probably not, but without a doubt he's their most
> influential recording artist. Listening back, it's amazing,
> considering his pre- Bright Sized Life output that BSL just screamed,
> quintessential genius in his debut recording......and it's still my
> favorite Pat Metheny record by far, even after all these years. Just
> an aside in all this, as I really don't have a vested opinion not
> being devoted big fan or a devoted not-fan. I rather tend to see
> Metheny in the context of the great ECM guitar pantheon, and perhaps
> even more so, the great jazz guitar pantheon, both of which I see him
> in as an honorary member in that given milieu doing his thing. Oddly
> enough, Metheny wasn't always a well-respected jazz guitarist, as i'm
> old enough to remember that Metheny was, at least initially, heavily
> slagged by many of his jazz contemporaries as a kind of bubblegum jazz
> musician---more of less ala Kenny G today....funny how times have and
> have not changed, no? BTW, i saw Miles Davis With Mike Stern on guitar
> OPEN for Pat metheny in a free concert on the Boston commons,and i
> shudder to think of what Miles had to say during negations for that
> tour! Anyway, Stern was great that night, but Metheny really upped the
> anti as i saw it back then, and he and his band turned in a remarkable
> performance that really stood above.
>
> Gismonti----->A real marvel, and perhaps the most underrated/
> underappreciated member of the great ECM guitar pantheon.
>
> Torn----->man-o-man-ohhhhh-man. check the first everyman band
> record.check it, check it,check it, just check it....... because it's
> the portrait of a classic in repose. In much the same way that Coryell
> and McLaughlin had brought the dynamic of Hendrix and '60s psychedelia
> to jazz guitar before him, it's my contention that David Torn brought
> a Phillip K. Dick-like futuristic dynamic to jazz where EddieVan Halen
> is re-envisioned as Ornette Coleman and heavy metal adds something
> beyond the electro magnetic fence to what's already there as jazz
> guitar....well Torn did just that with his playing on the first
> Everyman Band record. But unlike Coryell and McLaughlin's pioneering
> work, which had many guitarist following in their footsteps, I can't
> think of hardly anyone who really followed up Torn's example--not even
> Torn himself! (Actually, Torn's playing on Jan Garbarek's It's OK To
> Listen To The Gray Voice is a nice bit of middle ground between the
> more oblique, exotic loop-based mature sound that he's best known for
> today and this singular sort of early heavy metal-jazz/rock-fusion
> sound.) Many players might mention Holdsworth as the first example of
> this sort, as he influenced Van Halen and clearly Torn as well on the
> first Everyman Band recording, and ...
>
> read more »
evanp...@gmail.com
i just love d. torns "best laid plains" & "cloud about mercury"-very
different, but just great adventurous music. i have marty fogel's
"many bobbing heads" album and torn has some great stuff on there
also. and his new prezens album is one of my favorites. in one of his
interviews from a yr or so ago, he said there was supposed
to be alive followup w/ this band, a live in the studio and a live
club album, wish they would release them. i think i've watched the
youtube vids of him w/ the prezens
band a million times. i just recently got the j. garabek "ok to listen
to gray voice" i think there are some great subtle dtorn moments on
there. he doesn't over power the
cd, but a couple of moments, he just really shines (one i remember is
there's a moment of tapping that sort of sounds out a chord cluster-
sounds real clean-i assume it's his steinberger gl he played back in
the day-just interesting to hear the tapping back then that was
different than what the 80's hair bands were doing.
i would love to get his everyman band cds, but haven't seen them
anywhere anymore...
s---
www.myspace.com/scotthansen
danstearns
Abercrombie's solo recording, Characters, Saragossa Sea (a duet with
Ralph Towner), Timeless, a fusion power trio with DeJohnette and Jan
Hammer (of all people), the first Gateway Trio, his additions to David
Lieberman's Lookout Farm, or Kenny Wheeler's Deer Wan, Garbarek's
experimental world fusion on Eventyr, Another world fusion ad hock
group with Collin Walcott and Don Cherry on Grazing Dreams, his
contributions to Barre Phillips' Mountainscapes or Jack DeJohnette's
New Directions .As far as Gismonti's ECM releases go, check his work
with Garbarek and Haden, or his solo recording Sol Do Meio Dia------>i
actually have far fewer Gismonti CDs than any other classic ECM
guitarist (in fact i have more Ritchie Birach CDs than i do Gismonti
CDs).
daniel
Joe Giglio
> On Feb 25, 6:16 pm, "sri883" <sri...@cfl.rr.com> wrote:
>
>
>
> > My all time favorite's are Gary Burton's "Ring", Enrico Rava's "Pilgrim And
> > The Star's" ("Parks" is one great ballad), Bill Connor's "Theme To The
> > Gaurdian", Pat Metheny "80-81" and Keith Jarret "My Song".
>
> > "Phil" <pdema...@yahoo.com> wrote in message
>
> >news:26c1bb25-7b0e-431a...@q1g2000vbn.googlegroups.com...
>
> > >I love ECM records. I really do. Thought I'd post a few of my
> > > favorites by, or that that feature, guitarists and see what your
> > > favorites are as well:
>
> > > * Pat Metheny - "Bright Size Life" (Still my favorite PM album)
>
> > > * John Abercrombie - "Timeless" (This whole album just flows so
> > > nicely)
>
> > > * Mick Goodrick - "In Pas(s)ing" (Wish Mick would have recorded more
> > > on ECM)
>
> > > * Kenny Wheeler - "Angel Song" (featuring Bill Frisell. Amazing
> > > comping. Wish I had some clue what he was doing.)
>
> > > * Ralph Towner - "Open Letter" ("Waltz for Debbie" is lovely times
> > > 100)
>
> > > * Gary Burton - "Dreams So Real" (Mick Goodrick's solo on "Vox Humana"
> > > is a masterpiece, a composition in itself.)
>
> > > -Phil
>
> was a miss-print and they just never corrected it.
yeah, it was a misprint - it's supposed to be 'Theme to LaGuardia' -
a tribute to Fiorello LaGuardia, the man who invented the airport...
pmfan57
You mean LaGaurdia don't you?
danstearns
array of unique instrumentalists over the years, not to mention
photographers like Franco Fontana by way of their cover art and design
layout. However, they were not without detractors or controversy.
Manfred Eicher, who founded ECM records and thoroughly applied his
personal vision to the whole style and sound of the label, did so to
such a degree that you really had to be either sympathetic to his
aesthetic, or you had to take that as part and parcel of that ECM
sound while listening past that on to whatever ECM recordings of
theirs you were interested in hearing solely for the musicians it
featured. Interestingly, Eicher was a huge Bergman fan, and there is a
bit of an apt comparison there..... at least in as much as that both
Eicher and Bergman had a singular vision colored by an strong
aesthetic and always did things their way despite having an
astonishing strong host of willing artists with which to work with.
Okay, enough contemplating the aesthetics of ECM and its impact as an
artistic entity--how about just trying to list the amazing guitarists
that made their rep, or at least part of it, on ECM recordings?
Terje Rypdal------>
To my mind he's perhaps the quintessential ECM guitarist. Terje was
Ralph Towner------>
If it Rypdal isn't the guy, then Ralph Towner definitely is! I was
Bill Frisell------>
Okay, if the quintessential ECM guitarist isn't Rypdal or Towner, then
it's certainly frisell. I mean what can you say at this
point......he's recorded with everybody and everybody else’s uncle...
he always sounds great despite having been on ten trillion recordings
in a zillion diametrically opposed settings, and next to Metheny he's
definitely the most universally influential ECM guitarist. I was lucky
enough to open for him and Tim Berne at the WCUW JazzFest in the
Worcester, Massachusetts Science Center's Planetarium while they were
supporting their record Theoretically .And man was it great to sit a
few inches from the bespectacled Frisell and his SG as he bent the
neck and challenged the truss rod to deny him his microtonal, lonely
whistle sonorities.
Pat Metheny------>
Well if the quintessential ECM guitarist isn't Rypdal or towner or
Frisell, then there might be space for an argument that it's Metheny.
Probably not, but without a doubt he's their most influential
recording artist. Listening back, it's amazing, considering his pre-
Bright Sized Life output that BSL just screamed, quintessential genius
in his debut recording......and it's still my favorite Pat Metheny
record by far, even after all these years. Just an aside in all this,
as I really don't have a vested opinion not being devoted big fan or a
devoted not-fan. I rather tend to see Metheny in the context of the
great ECM guitar pantheon, and perhaps even more so, the great jazz
guitar pantheon, both of which I see him in as an honorary member in
that given milieu doing his thing. Oddly enough, Metheny wasn't always
a well-respected jazz guitarist, as i'm old enough to remember that
Metheny was, at least initially, heavily slagged by many of his jazz
contemporaries as a kind of bubblegum jazz musician---more of less ala
Kenny G today....funny how times have and have not changed, no? BTW, i
saw Miles Davis With Mike Stern on guitar OPEN for Pat metheny in a
free concert on the Boston commons,and i shudder to think of what
Miles had to say during negations for that tour! Anyway, Stern was
great that night, but Metheny really upped the anti as i saw it back
then, and he and his band turned in a remarkable performance that
really stood above.
Egberto Gismonti------>
A real marvel, and perhaps the most underrated/underappreciated member
of the great ECM guitar pantheon.
David Torn------>
Man-o-man,ohhhhh-man. check the first everyman band record.check it,
check it,check it, just check it....... because it's the portrait of a
classic in repose. In much the same way that Coryell and McLaughlin
had brought the dynamic of Hendrix and '60s psychedelia to jazz guitar
before him, it's my contention that David Torn brought a Phillip K.
Dick-like futuristic dynamic to jazz where EddieVan Halen is re-
envisioned as Ornette Coleman and heavy metal adds something beyond
the electro magnetic fence to what's already there as jazz
guitar....well Torn did just that with his playing on the first
Everyman Band record. But unlike Coryell and McLaughlin's pioneering
work, which had many guitarist following in their footsteps, I can't
think of hardly anyone who really followed up Torn's example--not even
Torn himself! (Actually, Torn's playing on Jan Garbarek's It's OK To
Listen To The Gray Voice is a nice bit of middle ground between the
more oblique, exotic loop-based mature sound that he's best known for
today and this singular sort of early heavy metal-jazz/rock-fusion
sound.) Many players might mention Holdsworth as the first example of
this sort, as he influenced Van Halen and clearly Torn as well in his
early Everyman Band period, and all that is true enough and Holdsworth
stands way apart from most all other players in terms of the degree to
which he was able to assimilated a classic Coltrane-like dedication
and compass to improvisation. But there's a stylistic aggressiveness
and attitude on the first eponymous Everyman Band recording that
really separates Torn's playing from anything else at the time and
most things that came after as far as fusion guitar goes. Just
remember you heard it here first.....because i think this record is a
future fusion guitar benchmark that jut has to wait it's time.
Steve Tibbetts------->
The Minnesota native was already a well-respected underground legend
for his independently released solo recordings before he signed on to
ECM. And hey, anybody remotely jazz-related who says something to the
effect of "who would you rather listen too ,Motorhead or Earl Klugh?”
is pretty cool in my book---especially if they make a music like
Tibbetts did. Anyway, i saw tibbets live at the WAG a few times, and
man was he great. For a duo they had an absolutely HUGE and BEAUTIFUL
sound with percussionist Marc Anderson alternating between a plethora
of hand percussion, steel drums, and a modified trap kit really being
every bit as amazing as Tibbetts. Also, Tibbetts occasionally got a
massively garish, distorted tone by using an obscure effect called a
compander--->I.e. an expander/ compressor which enables the signal to
open up into a huge and aggressive attack arcs depending upon the pick
attack. FWiW, one of my personal big time hero/ motivators was another
Minnesota guy Sigurd Olson. I know he was a controversial figure
locally as he was hung in effigy outside the courthouse by a group of
local good ole boys over the boundary waters canoe area wilderness
act. Well good for him, and god (or whatever) bless him and his
snowshoes and canoes--and for what it's worth, it was his early, quasi-
spiritual /religious experiences out-of-doors as described by David
backe in his Wilderness Theology that drew me to him as an oddly
simpatico personage.
John Abercrombie------>
Kind of the great utility guy, or seventh player award guy of the
classic ECM guitar stable. Abercrombie always took an equal-
opportunity approach to either the world fusion of a Nana Vasconcelo
or Conlon Walcott, or the meanish John McLaughlin-esqe fusion of a
Timeless or the first Gateway recording or the classic jazz-rock of
Liberman's great 1973 ECM recording, Lookout Farm .Abercombie never
had a singular, defining style per se, but almost always sounded good
and special and really adapted well to the various ECM projects and
personalities he collaborated on. And, for what it's worth, he was
also much more of an orthodox jazz guitarist than any other big-time
ECM guitarists aside from Methany and Frisell.
Bill Connors------->
Another ECM chameleon type guy who stood somewhat outside of the
excepted pantheon of individualistic, stylized ECM guitarists. I
always liked his early RTF McLaughlin-esque guitar, and especially his
later vibes, flute/sax and acoustic guitar trio recordings with Tom
Van Der Geld a lot, despite the fact that there really wasn't any
comparatively obvious originality in his approach given the overall
context of most of the other players mentioned here.
Am I forgetting anybody? Well, of course I am, as there were a ton of
other relevant guitarists who recorded under the ECM banner,
especially later, like Raoul Bjorkenheim, Jacob Young and Eivind
Aarset. But as a label with a guitar-roster ranging from the Music
Impovisation Company's Derek Bailey to the Tonight Show's Kevin
Eubanks to Whitesnake's Steve Vai, it's hard not to leave somebody
deserving a mention out,such as some of the more obscure figures like
Steve Eliovson, Hajo Webern,Ulich Ingenbold , and Om's Christy Doran,
et al.
