Home » Jazz Articles » John Abercrombie
Jazz Articles about John Abercrombie
John Abercrombie, Dave Holland, Jack DeJohnette: Gateway
by Mike Jurkovic
Maybe in a world a-tuned to the sound of people seeking their own expressive modal dialogue to negotiate, barter, pray or prevent the king's rise, Gateway would have been the greatest jazz guitar trio album ever made. It certainly feels that way when one slips this handsome disc from its wrappings, handle gently to the turntable, and set the stylus down. It is like 1975 again (the good parts anyway): the head high, the mood mellow. Maybe one ...
Continue ReadingJack DeJohnette: Sorcery
by Rob Garratt
Which Jack DeJohnette is best known? The subtle sticksmith at the heart of Keith Jarrett's Standards Trio, perhaps? Probably the heavyweight hitter driving electric-era Miles Davis' '70s sonic brew. Maybe the percussive upstart propelling Charles Lloyd to crossover flower-power fame? Or even the fearless bandleader behind the ever-thrilling Special Edition band ... At age 81, DeJohnette can (still) fairly claim to be the most in-demand jazz drummer on the planet. But even the most studious acolyte ...
Continue ReadingJack DeJohnette: Sorcery
by Scott Gudell
Jack DeJohnette gets around. The Chicago born drummer was drawn to R&B and bebop in the late 1950s and eventually toyed with a more avant-garde jazz sound when he spent some time with the esoteric Sun Ra. It seems like DeJohnette played in the big leagues almost from the beginning since, by the time he moved to New York City in the mid-1960s, he was teaming up with other monsters of jazz such as Keith Jarrett and Charles Lloyd. Several ...
Continue ReadingJohn Abercrombie: The First Quartet
by John Kelman
With the release of Arcade (1979), Abercrombie Quartet (1980) and M (1981), John Abercrombie's entire ECM discography as a leader is finally available on CD. Looking back at these albums and their position in his oeuvre, they are revealed as seminal documents of Abercrombie's arrival as a distinctive writer, improvising guitarist and bandleader, delivering on the promise of his first two ECM recordings under his own name, Timeless (1975) and Characters (1977). Abercrombie's subsequent career has, in many ways, been ...
Continue ReadingJohn Abercrombie and Don Thompson: Yesterdays
by Don Phipps
The late John Abercrombie's outstanding and extensive recorded legacy includes two duet albums with fellow guitarist Ralph Towner, Sargasso Sea (ECM 2008) and Five Years Later (ECM, 2014), four Gateway trio albums (with bassist Dave Holland and drummer Jack DeJohnette), and three Baseline Trio albums (with bassist Hein Van de Geyn and drummer Joe LaBarbera). Like those albums, Yesterdays finds him at his guitar-picking best, collaborating on this one with bassist Don Thompson. Recorded live in 1992 at ...
Continue ReadingOpen Land: Meeting John Abercrombie
by John Kelman
John Abercrombie Open Land: Meeting John AbercrombieMusic Heritage Productions / ECM Records2018 It's almost a year to the day since the world lost John Abercrombie and, for many of his fans, that loss remains something still deeply and palpably felt. A guitarist who managed to be instantly recognizable without relying on many of the signatures that help identify most guitarists--certain approaches to phrasing and melody and specific tonal approaches amongst them--Abercrombie may not have garnered ...
Continue ReadingOpen Land: Meeting John Abercrombie
by Mark Sullivan
John Abercrombie Open Land: Meeting John Abercrombie Music Heritage Productions / ECM Records 2018 Named after John Abercrombie's 1999 ECM album of the same name (by his trio with organist Dan Wall and drummer Adam Nussbaum, plus guests trumpeter Kenny Wheeler, violinist Mark Feldman and saxophonist Joe Lovano), Open Land finds the guitarist late in his career. Much of the ninety minute run time shows him talking about his life as a jazz guitarist and ...
Continue Reading
