Jazz Articles about Peter Donald

About Peter Donald

Liner Notes

John Abercrombie: The First Quartet

by John Kelman
February 9, 2023

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 ...

Album Review

John Abercrombie: The First Quartet

Read "The First Quartet" reviewed by Mark Sullivan

by Mark Sullivan
December 10, 2015

In many ways guitarist John Abercrombie's recordings with his first quartet represent his real coming of age, as a jazz guitarist, composer, and bandleader. He already had a substantial ECM discography behind him, including his fusion debut Timeless (1975); the overdubbed solo record Characters (1977); the first trio with Dave Holland and Jack DeJohnette, the self-titled Gateway (1975); and his first duet record with acoustic guitarist Ralph Towner, Sargasso Sea (1976). But many of these recordings (and others ...

Album Review

John Abercrombie: The First Quartet

Read "The First Quartet" reviewed by Karl Ackermann

by Karl Ackermann
November 23, 2015

In his more than thirty year career--almost exclusively with ECM--guitarist John Abercrombie has more often than not confined his formation to smaller groups ranging from solo through quartet. He has been less restricted in the style of music he creates and that diversity is demonstrated with mixed results on The First Quartet. The albums included in the three-disc set are remastered from original ECM analog recordings of Arcade (1979), Abercrombie Quartet (1979) and M (1981). All but unavailable in CD ...

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Album Review

Peter Donald, Abraham Laboriel, Tom Ranier: 3PRIME

by Dave Nathan
August 1, 2001

3Prime is three stalwarts of jazz. Drummer Peter Donald has been the anchor for many a rhythm section having played with everyone from Zoot Sims to John Abercrombie. Abraham Laboriel also has an impressive resume having backed both pop and jazz personages. He has also been on many ECM albums, one of the foremost labels of modern jazz. Tom Ranier, a top notch improvisor, is also as adroit on the clarinet as on piano. The clarinet isn't part of this ...