Charlie Haden/Jan Garbarek/Egberto Gismonti – Magico (1980)

This one's not for me. By the end of the album, I was wondering to myself if my personal "ECM season" had passed and I should no longer look for ECM CDs in the used bins. But then I read the reviews that were less than favorable (save for the folks at Stereo Review) and now I'm thinking this one was simply a swing-and-a-miss. After all, nobody can bat 1.000. (Baseball analogies provided in honor of the opening of the 2026 MLB season.)

Reviews/ratings:

• Stereo Review: "ought to send you scrambling for the nearest record shop"
• Musician: "like gazing at a tree, knowing every leaf and branch is there for a reason, yet unable to trace the whole chain of consequence back to the trunk and the roots."
• High Fidelity: "Putting these three world-class jazzmen together was a great idea that somehow never ignited."
• CashBox: "There is nothing obvious about the music"
• DownBeat (★★½): "it is imbued with a studied hush and false intimacy that ultimately cloys and bores."
• The Penguin Guide to Jazz (5th ed., 2000):★★★
• The Rolling Stone Jazz & Blues Album Guide (1999): ★★
• The Virgin Encyclopedia of Jazz (1999): ★★★

Peak on the US Billboard Top 200 chart: Did not chart

Tracks:

Personal Memory Associated with this CD: None

Charles Lloyd & Billy Higgins - Which Way Is East (2004)

Back in January 2001, saxophonist Charles Lloyd and drummer Billy Higgins decided they’d had enough of studios, producers, and anything resembling structure. So they retreated to Lloyd’s house in Montecito, surrounded by ocean breezes and too many flutes, and hit the record button.

The result is this double CD release on the ECM label that sounds like two lifelong friends sitting in a room full of uncommon instruments* and saying, “Hey, what happens if we both play this thing at once?” It’s jazz, sure, but only in the sense that Olive Garden is Italian food. However, it’s two legendary jazzers having a conversation I can only attempt to understand. But it sure sounds deep.

This guy claims the recording is "the sound of ancestors spreading wings, spinning flesh from sunlight," while another critic writes: "Recorded in a living room shortly before Higgins' death, two old friends converse, contemplate, fart around." Since I don't understand what the heck is going on here, I find myself leaning toward the latter opinion. It just might be a masterpiece, but it's not my bag, man. If you're into free jazz and world music, give it shot.

*New-to-me instruments on this recording, according to the credits: tárogató, Tibetan oboe, guimbri, Syrian 'one string,' Senegalese, Guinean and Indian hand drums, and something called Juno's wood box.

More album reviews here.

Peak on the US Billboard Top 200 chart: Did not chart

Tracks: 30 tracks comprising 8 "suites" across two discs. Total time is just over 2½ hours, which is a lot to take in, much less comprehend. It turns oddly Brazilian at the end, though, so that's nice.

Personal Memory Associated with this CD: None.

Old And New Dreams - Playing (1981)

It's difficult to read with the small font, but printed underneath the picture of the empty soccer net is "The kicker suddenly started his run," a translated line from German novelist Peter Handke’s 1970 novel, The Goalie’s Anxiety at the Penalty Kick. I'll leave you to your own interpretation and its relation to the music on this album.

Recorded live, June 1980, Theater am Kornmarkt, Bregenz, Austria

As all members of this quartet played with Ornette Coleman, this live set from Austria is set squarely in the Coleman school of avant-garde/free jazz. The band’s on fire, the crowd’s buzzing, and half the tunes were written by Coleman (because why wouldn’t they pick something that dares you to keep up?), and it all just seems to fall together. What makes it fun is how easy they make it all sound. Not because it’s simple because it’s definitely not, but because they’re consummate pros who know exactly what they’re doing and aren’t trying to prove it every two seconds. It’s jazz without the ego trip and about as good as it gets. To be honest, though, I don't listen to this stuff often because 1) there's a lot going on here that is beyond my comprehension, and 2) the music demands focused active listening, which, while rewarding, is mentally draining.

Don Cherry - trumpet, piano
Dewey Redman - tenor saxophone, musette
Charlie Haden - bass
Ed Blackwell - drums

Reviews/ratings:

• Billboard: "embody the spirit of the avant garde in its broadest and most engaging sense"
• CashBox: "almost a study in mental and musical telepathy as the foursome juggle and exchange ideas with an awesome grace and ease."
• Stereo Review: Recording of Special Merit
• Musician: "one of the year's best albums"
• DownBeat (★★★★★): "To hear this music almost guarantees tapping the feet, tickling the brain, and vice versa."
• The Penguin Guide to Jazz (5th ed., 2000):★★★
• The Rolling Stone Jazz & Blues Album Guide (1999): ★★★★★
• The Virgin Encyclopedia of Jazz (1999): ★★★★

The album was voted "Record of the Year" in the 30th Annual International Jazz Critics Poll in DownBeat magazine (August 1982).

Peak on the US Billboard Top 200 chart: Did not chart

Tracks: My top picks are Mopti and Broken Shadows. Your mileage will most definitely vary.

Personal Memory Associated with this CD: None

Pat Metheny Group (1978)

Note: this release was originally purchased as a LP, later replaced by the original CD release (West Germany, 1985).

This album marks the first recordings of Metheny's writing collaborations with Lyle Mays, one of the most celebrated partnerships in jazz music in the years that followed. Heavily influenced by Weather Report, it is often considered the start of Metheny's signature sound, which - to my ears - moved in the direction of jazz fusion that was more melodic, lyrical, and accessible. Plus, Metheny's clean guitar tone of the time pairs quite well with May's experimental sounds, mostly synth and piano but there's also some autoharp in there.

The album was well-received critically and commercially; it became the first of Metheny's albums to crack the Billboard 200. Plus, according to the book Pat Metheny: The ECM Years, 1975-1984 by music scholar Mervyn Cooke,

The release stunned both ECM's management and the participating musicians by quickly selling more than 100,000 copies instead of the roughly 15,000 typically received by contemporary jazz alums, and by staying on the Billboard jazz chart for more than a year.

Can confirm. According to my info, the album was on the Billboard jazz chart from 5 August 1978 through 8 December 1979, and on the CashBox jazz chart from 5 August 1978 through 16 June 1979.

Not the first Metheny album I ever heard, but certainly one of the first and one to which I often return.

Ratings/reviews:

• CashBox: "an exquisite, graceful work"
• Record World: "[Metheny] emerges here as an excellent improvisationalist with an ear attuned to melody."
• DownBeat (★★★★½): "Metheny certainly has crafted one of the best jazz-rock concepts, and there is every indication that it will grow."
• The Rolling Stone Jazz & Blues Album Guide (1999): ★★★★
• The Virgin Encyclopedia of Jazz (1999): ★★★★
• The Penguin Guide to Jazz (5th ed., 2000): ★★½

Album chart peaks:

• US Billboard 200: #123
• Billboard Jazz: #5
• Record World Jazz: #8
• CashBox: #149
• CashBox Jazz: #10
• Rolling Stone: #98

Tracks: The "hits" are fantastically memorable: the first two tracks, San Lorenzo and Phase Dance, would quickly become favorites during live shows and are my favorite tracks. The next tracks are quite enjoyable even though April Joy is simply a retread of Phase Dance. The album's closer, Lone Jack, isn't bad, it just doesn't hold my interest for long.

Personal Memory Associated with this CD: Sitting around and chewing the fat in my friend David's dorm room in Berry Hall while he played his Metheny tapes, ca. Fall 1984.

Previously revisited for the blog:

:rarum IX (2004)	Travels (1983)
Different Trains (1989)	Offramp (1982)
Letter From Home (1989)	As Falls Wichita... (1981)
Still Life (Talking) (1987)	80/81 (1980)
The Falcon & The Snowman (1985)	American Garage (1979)
Rejoicing (1984)	New Chautauqua (1979)
First Circle (1984)	Watercolors (1977)

Chick Corea - Return To Forever (1975)

Note: the CD I listened to was 1987 reissue.

"Return To Forever" became the name Chick Corea gave to a series of three different bands during the '70s. The name was coined with the title of this album, released in 1972 in some countries but not until 1975 in the US. In the meantime, the group (in various incarnations) released four albums on the Polydor label. Regardless of release history, this album is considered by many to be a fusion classic - Corea embraced what he experienced during the Bitches Brew sessions and took the improvisational music in a more Latin-influenced direction.

Much like my experience with Bitches Brew, I was introduced to this album at a time when I was either too young or too bullheaded to understand it, i.e., sometime during my undergrad years. However, there's no denying the appeal of the album closer, La Fiesta, which I first heard when I was in high school through a Maynard Ferguson cover on his Chameleon album. Once I finally matured into the music, I enjoyed it a lot more, particularly the tracks Crystal Silence and the aforementioned La Fiesta. Corea gets writing credit on all tracks, but with this sort of first-take improvisation, there's a lot of collaboration and interplay between the musicians. Particularly noteworthy is the work of Stanley Clarke, just 20 years old at the time of recording.

Corea - electric piano
Joe Farrell - flutes, soprano saxophone
Flora Purim - vocal, percussion
Stanley Clarke - electric bass, double bass
Airto Moreira - drums, percussion

Liner notes from the 1975 ECM US release by Corea.

Reviews/ratings:

• Billboard: "Without exception, this is probably one of the finest jazz LP's in many years."
• Record World: "ensemble jazz at its finest"
• CashBox: "the music of times to come."
• Stereo Review: "out of nearly forty-seven minutes, this album contains about a half-hour of good music, which is more than one can say for any of the group's subsequent efforts on Polydor."
• The Penguin Guide to Jazz (5th ed., 2000): ★★★★
• The Rolling Stone Jazz & Blues Album Guide (1999): ★★★★½
• The Virgin Encyclopedia of Jazz (1999): ★★★★

Album chart peaks:

• US Billboard 200: Did not chart
• Billboard Jazz: #8
• CashBox: #171
• Record World Jazz: #18

Tracks: Like the reviewer from Stereo Review, I could do without the vocal tracks. However, I could also listen to Crystal Silence on repeat for 30 minutes. And have.

Personal Memory Associated with this CD: None. When my college classmates listened to fusion from the 1970's, it was usually either this group's Romantic Warrior album from 1976 or Heavy Weather by Weather Report (1977). Being young and foolish, I mistakenly believed that if a record hadn't been released in the past year or two, it wasn't worth listening to. As I've aged, I've obviously moved past that mindset. 😉

Oregon (1983)

When you pick up used CDs based solely on the record label, you're bound to win some, lose some. This jazzy world fusion album on the ECM label just doesn't do much for me as a whole.

You wouldn't guess this was an ECM release by looking at that cover art, huh?

Reviews/ratings:

• Billboard: "an auspicious work"
• Downbeat (★★★½): "often music of sonorities, reverberations, and subliminal moods, rather than lyrical melodies."
• The Penguin Guide to Jazz (5th ed., 2000): ★★★
• The Rolling Stone Jazz & Blues Album Guide (1999): ★★★★
• The Virgin Encyclopedia of Jazz (1999): ★★★

Album chart peaks:

• US Billboard 200: Did not chart
• Billboard Jazz: #21
• CashBox Jazz: #15

Tracks: I enjoy the lead track, The Rapids, but that's about it.

Personal Memory Associated with this CD: None

John Surman - Withholding Pattern (1985)

I paid way too much for this CD, but I've never seen it (or any Surman disc) in a used bin, so I threw caution to the wind along with some of my fixed income. A true solo effort, Surman wrote and performed the entirety of the album. It's difficult to describe Surman's music, but Ron Wynn over at allmusic gave it a shot in a ★★★★ review: "Surman mixes enough elements of rock, free, blues, and hard bop to keep the songs varied." I'd call it a unique blend of electronic and acoustic jazz fusion with hypnotic woodwind lines over looping synth textures. It could only be an ECM release. Listen on headphones if you're up for it.

Surman - baritone and soprano saxophones, bass clarinet, recorder, piano, synthesizer

Reviews/ratings:

• CashBox: "A sly and very attractive LP"
• Billboard: "continues the stately, brooding mood of his earlier label works."
• The Penguin Guide to Jazz (5th ed., 2000): ★★★
• The Virgin Encyclopedia of Jazz (1999): ★★★

Album as described in the above magazine advertisement:

British multi-instrumentalist and composer John Surman presents an intricately layered and beautiful work, Withholding Pattern. Surman's extensive use of overdubbing allows the synthesizer and piano to provide a foundation for his passionate reed forays on soprano and baritone saxophones and bass clarinet.

Peak on the US Billboard Top 200 chart: Did not chart

Tracks: It's all trippy, but my top picks today are tracks that are more synth-based à la Tangerine Dream: Changes Of Season, Holding Pattern I, and Wildcat Blues, as well as the bass clarinet solo of The Snooper.

Personal Memory Associated with this CD: None.

Previously revisited for the blog:
Selected Recordings :rarum XIII (2004)

Carla Bley - Carla's Christmas Carols (2009)

When the world lost Carla Bley in October 2023, I dealt with my grief by finally hunting down a copy of this CD, which had been on my wish list for a few years. According to the label website it is out of print, but I was able to eventually locate a copy on the secondary market for a very reasonable price (see below). Said label website describes this release thusly:

Christmas music has been an enthusiasm of Carla Bley’s for decades, and traditional and non-traditional seasonal pieces are here subjected to her offbeat wit and idiosyncratic arranging skills. The pleasure that the musicians find in the material is unmistakable and, perhaps particularly after a glass of mulled wine, contagious.

If the term 'idiosyncratic' didn't already exist, someone would have had to coin it to describe Bley's work. This is mostly traditional tunes interpreted by a brass quintet with Bley on keyboards and her partner Steve Swallow on bass. This ain't no Christmas party disc - having this on as background music might drive you and your guests crazy. It requires active listening. You might hear a key change mid-phrase, a jazz solo in the middle of a traditional brass quintet arrangement, plunger mutes, a traditional tune in an odd meter (they can really make a 5/8 swing), a tuba solo, or a song usually heard in a major key changed to a minor one or a mode (maybe Locrian? It's been a while since I studied modes). Bley's exquisite yet unique arranging skills are on full display throughout. I'm happy to add it to the annual Christmas rotation here at blog headquarters.

Reviews, ratings, etc.:

• All About Jazz (★★★★): "leave it to pianist/composer/arranger Carla Bley to produce an album that's as reverentially in the spirit of the season as it gets, while being musically deep enough to fit within her substantial discography with complete relevance"
• Tom Hull: B+ 
• ECM Reviews: "Bley offers an album of original arrangements that speak to the heart of every song while drawing out something long-concealed by the artifice of commercialization."
• Allmusic: "While the argument that there should be a moratorium on Christmas recordings is a good one in the 21st century, Carla's Christmas Carols provides a powerful counter to that view. She has added so much to these songs without taking away any of the warmth, joy, and nostalgia inherent to the season or their place in it."
• DownBeat didn't review the album but instead ran a short feature on it: Carla Bley jump-starts a new holiday tradition

Tracks: At the least, it's all very captivating, but I think the better tracks are The Christmas Song (brass only), King Christmas Bells, the New Orleans jazz arrangement of It Came Upon A Midnight Clear, a reggae version of Jingle Bells, and O Holy Night, a tune I normally don't enjoy. There's two original tunes from Bley on the album, the swinging Hell's Bells (incorporating Santa Claus Is Coming To Town) that segues into a rearrangement of Jesus Maria originally heard on Bley's Musique Mecanique album.

Personal Memory Associated with this CD: I found the disc for $10.99 from an eBay seller, quickly ordered the thing, and the seller posted a USPS delivery tracking number. After a month, I hadn't received the disc, so I dejectedly requested a refund. The seller (a big resale company, not an individual), immediately refunded my money with no questions asked. Of course, the disc arrived in my mailbox the following week. My stupid conscience made me contact the seller and offer payment, but the case was closed, so end of story. Merry Christmas to me, I suppose. :)

Previously revisited for the blog:
Selected Recordings :rarum XV (2004)
Heavy Heart (1984)
Social Studies (1981)
Musique Mecanique (1979)

Avishai Cohen - Into The Silence (2016)

I've been mesmerized by this haunting album ever since I picked it up. I was familiar with Cohen only by name from reading it in DownBeat magazine, but now I'm a fan. It almost plays as if late '60s Miles Davis recorded an characteristically esoteric, atmospheric album for ECM in the late '70s. I find it to be contemplative, melancholy, and somber. Late night headphones preferred.

Cohen - trumpet
Bill McHenry - tenor saxophone
Yonathan Avishai - piano
Eric Revis - double bass
Naheet Waits - drums

Reviews/ratings:

• DownBeat (★★★★): "well calibrated, poetic and straight from the heart."
• Between Sound And Space: "the results hark back to the golden age of ECM in both texture and mood."
• The Guardian (★★★★★): "The breadth of jazz references will make this irresistible for fans, but it’s beautiful contemporary music for just about anyone."
• JazzTimes: "beautiful, elegiac"
• All About Jazz - Mark Sullivan (★★★★): "It's beautiful music regardless, and clearly has a unity earned by the the consistent spirit in the composing as well as the spontaneous approach that the group took to this performance."
• All About Jazz - Karl Ackermann (★★★★★): "an extraordinary project on every level."

Tracks: While I enjoy the whole album top-to-bottom, my favorite tracks upon today's listening are Life And Death and Quiescence.

Personal Memory Associated with this CD: None

Dave Holland Quartet - Extensions (1990)

I picked up this used disc at the local Half Price Books simply because it was on the ECM label. I also recognized several names on the cover including Holland, Kevin Eubanks, and Marvin "Smitty" Smith, the latter two were playing in The Tonight Show band at the time of this release. This music, however, bears little resemblance to anything that was played during the commercials of Jay Leno's show. The critics liked it (see below), but it's a little too avant-garde for my tastes. I like my ECM releases a bit more...what's the word I'm looking for...atmospheric? relaxed? conjunct? ambient? moody? I'm not saying it's bad - Eubanks, in particular, brings his A game throughout the album - it's just not my bag, man.

Holland - bass
Steve Coleman - Alto Saxophone
Kevin Eubanks - guitar
Marvin "Smitty" Smith - drums

Reviews/ratings:

• DownBeat (★★★★★) : "stretched to the breaking point with engaging sounds"
• Musician: "These guys git it."
• Billboard: "a first-rate all-star session."
• New York Times: "an often brilliant album"
• The Penguin Guide to Jazz (5th ed., 2000): ★★½
• The Rolling Stone Jazz & Blues Album Guide (1999): ★★★★
• The Virgin Encyclopedia of Jazz (1999): ★★★★

Album chart peaks:

• US Billboard 200: Did not chart
• Billboard Jazz: #6

Tracks: My top pick is track 2, Processional, written by Holland.

Personal Memory Associated with this CD: None.

Previously revisited for the blog:
Selected Recordings :rarum X (2004)

Arvo Pärt - Tabula Rasa (1984)

The first disc released in ECM's New Series:

CashBox, January 26, 1985, p. 9

Arvo Pärt is an Estonian composer who created a type of minimalist composition technique he calls tintinnabuli. This recording is generally considered Pärt's introduction to the Western world and contains two of his most well-known works: Fratres and Cantus in Memoriam Benjamin Britten. I discovered Fratres through a piano/cello version used in There Will Be Blood and I'm glad I did.

Headphones recommended.

Press of the time:

• Stereo Review: "Sensitive, exciting, and fully realized compositions"
• Musician: "there's barely a moment on this recording that won't elevate or entrance the listener"
• DownBeat (★★): "'Where is the music?' As hapless Hamlet says in the play, that is the question."

Peak on the US Billboard Top 200 chart: Did not chart

Tracks, with links to program notes from the composer's website:

• Fratres (violin/piano)
• Cantus In Memory Of Benjamin Britten (Staatsorchester Stuttgart, Dennis Russell Davies, cond.)
• Fratres (12 cellists)
• Tabula Rasa (Lithuanian Chamber Orchestra, Saulus Sondeckis, cond.)

My favorite here is the Cantus - such a gorgeous piece with constant downward motion until the resolution. Of the two versions of Fratres presented, I prefer the calmer setting for cellos. Tabula Rasa is a 26½ minute piece that includes two violin soloists and prepared piano (been a good long while since I've heard one of those). It will require more listening and work on my part - hopefully I can find a score to examine. I look forward to continuing that journey. [Here was a moving start to that journey, back when I subscribed to The New Yorker: Consolations: Arvo Pärt by Alex Ross, December 2, 2002]

Personal Memory Associated with this CD: None. This album was issued as I was heading off to college to study music and I wish someone had introduced me to it at that time.

Previously revisited for the blog:
Fratres (1995)

Ralph Towner & Gary Burton - Matchbook (1975)

I wish I could remember where I got the recommendation for this CD so that I could thank them or give them proper credit because this thing is fantastic.* One of the most quiet, relaxing CDs I've come across in the past few years. The music here could almost be termed "folk-jazz-classical fusion" without being New Agey. The duo performs works that are peaceful but always hold one's interest. Towner's acoustic guitars play perfectly off Burton's vibes on these nine tracks. A line from a feature on Burton in the November 20, 1975 issue of DownBeat magazine simply describes the album as "a friendly exchange of ideas with guitarist Ralph Towner, an instrumentalist whose style bears many surprising similarities to Gary’s" and that's a great analogy - more like a conversation between the two.

Recorded in Germany on July 26 & 27, 1974, when Towner was 34 years of age and Burton was 31.

Also the first ECM CD I've ever purchased that was packaged in a bi-fold cardboard slip cover instead of a proper jewel case. This 2019 reissue is part of the ECM Touchstones releases.

Reviews/ratings:

• Billboard: "a pure delight"
• Walrus!: "This is fine modern, improvisational chamber music."
• DownBeat (★★★★★): "coerce[s] so much rapt, meditational attention from the listener that one has no choice but to be strongly affected."
• High Fidelity: "This is an album for making love, for making peace."
• The Rolling Stone Jazz & Blues Album Guide (1999): ★★★★
• The Virgin Encyclopedia of Jazz (1999): ★★★★
• The Penguin Guide to Jazz (5th ed., 2000): ★★★

Album chart peaks:

• US Billboard 200: did not chart
• Billboard Jazz: #35
• Record World Jazz: #34

Tracks: It's all beautiful so don't skip anything. My top picks today are Icarus, Aurora, the serene album opener Drifting Petals, along with the two covers: Some Other Time from the musical On The Town and Charles Mingus's Goodbye Pork Pie Hat. The latter of those two concludes the album and leaves you wanting more.

Personal Memory Associated with this CD: None.

Previously revisited for the blog:
Gary Burton Quintet - Whiz Kids (1987)
Ralph Towner - Solo Concert (1980)

*I believe it was from some random, online list of jazz albums that also included Paul Desmond's 1962 album Desmond Blue, but I've long since forgotten which website. Of course, Desmond Blue will appear in this space at a later date.

Pat Metheny - New Chautauqua (1979)

In which Metheny plays all the parts (electric 6 and 12 string guitars, acoustic guitar, 15 string harp guitar, electric bass), overdubbed many times over in a studio in Oslo, Norway. Part of the allure of jazz is the interplay between musicians and, of course, that's missing here. However, Metheny is so talented as to mostly make up for that. Truly a solo release, Metheny begins toying with more of a heartland/Americana style of playing that incorporates elements of country music.

According to my copy of Top Pop Albums, this album has been Metheny's highest charting album on the Billboard 200 to date. It's not my favorite Metheny, but it's perfectly enjoyable and pairs well with American Garage and/or what was side 2 of Wichita. I could do without the superimposed negative image of Metheny on an otherwise appropriate album cover image, but word has it that Metheny doesn't like it either and unsuccessfully attempted to change it.

Finally, a little bonus ECM trivia courtesy of the July 28, 1979 issue of Billboard magazine:

Ratings/reviews:

• Rolling Stone: "prototypical chamber jazz - and if somebody has to lull and wheedle the masses with it, better Metheny than Mangione."
• CashBox: "should continue the growth pattern of Metheny's career"
• High Fidelity: "Once the initial astonishment over Metheny's mechanical skills wears off, surprisingly little musical fascination remains."
• Record World: "Metheny is fast becoming a major progressive jazz soloist."
• Walrus!: "Impressionistic jazz."
• Billboard: "Each of the six original compositions are tasty with crossover potential."
• DownBeat (★★★): "Metheny remains a conceptual lightweight with a heavyweight technique, appealing to a listenership far wider than it is deep."
• The Rolling Stone Jazz & Blues Album Guide (1999): ★★★★
• The Virgin Encyclopedia of Jazz (1999): ★★★★
• The Penguin Guide to Jazz (5th ed., 2000): ★★★

Album chart peaks:

• US Billboard Top 200: #44
• Billboard Jazz: #3
• Record World Jazz: #6
• CashBox: #67
• CashBox Jazz: #5
• Rolling Stone: #42

Tracks: The title track is easily my favorite, followed by the delicate Country Poem, then Sueño Con Mexico and the second half of Daybreak. My least favorite cut is the New Agey noodling found on track 3, Long Ago Child/Fallen Star.

Personal Memory Associated with this CD: None

Previously revisited for the blog:

:rarum IX (2004)	Travels (1983)
Different Trains (1989)	Offramp (1982)
Letter From Home (1989)	As Falls Wichita... (1981)
Still Life (Talking) (1987)	80/81 (1980)
The Falcon & The Snowman (1985)	American Garage (1979)
Rejoicing (1984)	Watercolors (1977)
First Circle (1984)

Gary Burton Quintet - Whiz Kids (1987)

This album, Burton's last as a leader on the ECM label, finds Burton and long-time collaborator Steve Swallow raiding the halls of Boston's Berklee School of Music to find the latest "Whiz Kids" and offer them some career opportunities. In this case, pianist Makoto Ozone (25 at the time of recording) and saxophonist Tommy Smith (19). Burton was on the faculty of Berklee from 1971-2004 and was no stranger to seeing other jazz artists come to the campus to snag the latest young talent. Down in Texas, we saw the same thing at the University of North Texas, with people like Maynard Ferguson grabbing lead trumpet players from the famous One O'Clock Lab Band. But I digress...

The music here is very accessible for an ECM release (which sounds like a putdown, but I certainly don't mean it that way). The saxophone and vibraphone fight a bit at times - I find myself wishing there was more of the latter and less of the former - but overall the writing and soloing are quite good. Very smooth and enjoyable, this CD has gotten quite a bit of late night play at the house over the past year or so.

Reviews/ratings:

• CashBox: "Tender yet tough, dazzling yet thoughtful, and smooth the entire way down."
• Stereo Review: "to say the least, a lilting set"
• Billboard: "Tunes are very much in Burton's trademark sound, with a fine band"
• Downbeat: ★★★½
• The Rolling Stone Jazz & Blues Album Guide (1999): ★★★
• The Virgin Encyclopedia of Jazz (1999): ★★
• The Penguin Guide to Jazz (5th ed., 2000): ★★½

Album chart peaks:

• US Billboard 200: Did not chart
• CashBox: #31
• Radio & Records Jazz Radio National Airplay: #1

Tracks: The gentle album opener, The Last Clown, perfectly sets the tone for the album. I was already familiar with the upbeat second track, Yellow Fever, from Makoto's 1986 album, After, but the version offered here is enjoyable on its own merits. There's also a lilting jazz waltz (Soulful Bill), a Latin-flavored tune on which Burton switches to marimba (La Divetta), a samba (Cool Train), and a cover of Chick Corea's The Loop. Ozone's playing style greatly favors Corea's so that's a wise choice.

Personal Memory Associated with this CD: None, but hearing jazz vibraphone sure brings back some of the more family-friendly fantasies I had as an undergrad around the time this album was released. More specifically, my far-fetched desire to study jazz vibes instead of the classical trumpet I actually (half-heartedly) 'studied' while pursuing my music degree. Sadly, most institutions of higher education are more focused on rigid, prescribed courses of study than student self-discovery. [... two paragraph rant about higher ed. deleted...]

Carla Bley - Heavy Heart (1984)

German import

Man, is this album ever frustrating. Still, I can't help but like it. It's as if Bley challenged herself to write commercial (almost smooth) jazz music instead of her usual jazz-based art music. To that end, Bley invited artists such as Kenny Kirkland, Hiram Bullock, and Manolo Badrena to join her ten-piece band for this recording. So it kinda sounds like a typical Carla Bley album if there is such a thing, but kinda not and I suspect that description would bring a wry smile to the composer/arranger's face.

Bley's unique orchestration voicings are present throughout and there's some catchy melodies over some smooth chord changes. Maybe it's just frustrating to me because it wasn't what I expected. Nevertheless, like I said, I dig 5 of the 6 tracks here. Looking back, I'm not sure how much Bley likes these tunes as she did not select any of the 6 tunes from this album for her retrospective entry in ECM's rarum series in 2004.

Reviews/ratings:

• Billboard: "some of her most accessible music yet"
• Musician: "I'll be damned if the album didn't finally make my surly, snobbish heart go pit-a-pat."
• Tom Hull: B+
• Downbeat (★★★): "the tunes aren't as strong as her more 'serious' compositions, but the soloing is exhilarating"
• The Rolling Stone Jazz & Blues Album Guide (1999): ★★★½
• The Virgin Encyclopedia of Jazz (1999): ★★★
• The Penguin Guide to Jazz (5th ed., 2000): ★★

debuted at #9 in the April 20, 1984 issue

Album chart peaks:

• US Billboard 200: Did not chart
• Billboard Jazz: #27
• CashBox Jazz: #14
• Radio & Records Jazz Radio National Airplay: #4

Tracks: My favorite tracks are the noir-ish Talking Hearts (great solo from Bullock), the appropriately named Joyful Noise (great solo from Kirkland), and the title track featuring Steve Slagle on alto sax. Bley's sense of humor is evident by having a cut titled Ending It followed by a tune titled Starting Again, the latter being more in the style of free jazz with a fair share of dissonance and, to my ears, doesn't really fit in with the other five tracks.

Personal Memory Associated with this CD: The above magazine ad from Radio & Records magazine caught my eye so I thought I'd give the thing a try even though my copy of The Penguin Guide to Jazz on CD clearly states, "This is a disappointing vintage in Bley's music."

It also occurs to me that I saw three of the musicians mentioned above around the time this album was recorded: Badrena with Spyro Gyra in 1983, Kirkland with Sting in 1985, and Bullock with David Sanborn opening for Al Jarreau, also in 1985. If I'd only seen Bley and her group back then. That might have been a better (and cheaper) music education than what I was getting in college.

Previously revisited for the blog:
Selected Recordings :rarum XV (2004)
Social Studies (1981)
Musique Mecanique (1979)

Pat Metheny w/Charlie Haden & Billy Higgins – Rejoicing (1984)

In which Metheny leaves his fusion group for a bit to record some more staright-ahead bebop/free jazz with two of Ornette Coleman's sidemen: Charlie Haden on bass and Billy Higgins on drums. It's not my thing - it's not you, it's me - but I simply couldn't pass up an ECM-era Metheny CD sitting in a used bin.

In an article entitled "Pat Metheny Straight Ahead." (Guitar Extra!, Spring 1990, 56-64), Metheny had this to say about the album:

I did Rejoicing, which I really hated. That to me is one of the worst records I've ever made, if not the worst. That trio live had so much energy, so much spirit. But, when we did the record, the vibe in the studio was the worst vibe I have ever had in a recording studio. That record is the reason that I left ECM. I could not take Manfred Eicher anymore. He made it impossible to play on that date. What's on there is a struggle to try and get something over this dark blue barrier he had created between us and the tape. It was really bleak. There's a couple of things on there that are OK, like "Lonely Woman." The other thing is that the sound of that record is so weird. It's just so bad, muffled and reverby, and it doesn't have to be like that.

Yikes!

I was reminded of this album when I read this recent piece over at the Something Else website: Why Pat Metheny Fans Should Give ‘Rejoicing’ Another Listen. Further reading: ECMreviews site and the book Pat Metheny: The ECM Years, 1975-1984 by music scholar Mervyn Cooke.

Reviews/ratings:

• CashBox: "The album shows us the guitarist's very clear view of jazz past, present, and future."
• Billboard: "A luminous trio date"
• Musician: "Two and a quarter minutes of music isn't worth the price of the record"
• Downbeat (★★★★½): "shows the gifted guitarist playing with a scope and maturity only hinted at on Bright Size Life"
• The Rolling Stone Jazz & Blues Album Guide (1999): ★★★½
• The Virgin Encyclopedia of Jazz (1999): ★★★
• The Penguin Guide to Jazz (5th ed., 2000): ★★★½

Album chart peaks:

• US Billboard 200: #116
• Billboard Jazz: #4
• CashBox: #112
• CashBox Jazz: #1
• Radio & Records Jazz Radio National Airplay Chart: #2

Tracks:

My top picks are Lonely Woman and Story From A Stranger. Skip track 7, The Calling, which uses an unusually abrasive guitar-synth timbre and is most experimental cut on the album.

Personal Memory Associated with this CD: None

Previously revisited for the blog:

:rarum IX (2004)	Travels (1983)
Different Trains (1989)	Offramp (1982)
Letter From Home (1989)	As Falls Wichita... (1981)
Still Life (Talking) (1987)	80/81 (1980)
The Falcon & The Snowman (1985)	American Garage (1979)
First Circle (1984)	Watercolors (1977)

Keith Jarrett - Personal Mountains (1989)

German import

It's difficult for me to pass up an ECM CD in the used bin, particularly when it is marked down to $1 as this particular CD was. This disc is a live album by Jarrett's 'European Quartet' recorded in 1979 in Tokyo and released in 1989. It has been written that "From note one Personal Mountains paints melodic vistas of great majesty wrapped in a bow of rarified execution." The playing is indeed spectacular, I just can't get into it until the last tracks. I've given the disc several spins, but overall, this one's not for me.

Peak on the US Billboard Top 200 chart: Did not chart

Tracks: Of the five tracks here, I dig track 4, Innocence, which includes nice work from both Jarrett and bassist Palle Danielsson. There's also a CD-only bonus track, Late Night Willie, which has a pleasant, laid back groove to it.

Personal Memory Associated with this CD: None

Previously revisited for the blog:
Standards, Vol. 1 (1983)
The Köln Concert (1975)

Carla Bley - Social Studies (1981)

EU Import

Humorously derivative and cleverly melodic with orchestrations and instrumentations all her own, there's no mistaking Carla Bley compositions.

High Fidelity magazine called Bley's work "a fascinating amalgam of Duke Ellington, Jacques Brel, and Kurt Weill" and I can't write anything better, so I'm done.

Press of the time:

• Downbeat (★★★): "a recording of craft rather than creation, and garners accurate, rather than inspired, playing"
• Stereo Review: "The sound has its appeal, but at this point it is not very creative."
• Billboard: "tightly arranged, melodic compositions"
• CashBox: "music that is frequently moving"
• Musician: "there are beautiful melodies in abundance here, played with well-tempered passion"
• Rolling Stone Album Guide: ★★★★★

In a fashion, the album made an appearance on The Simpsons as Lisa was browsing in All Sales Vinyl:

Album chart peaks:

• US Billboard 200: Did not chart
• Billboard Jazz: #27

Tracks: The album's centerpiece, the 13-minute Reactionary Tango, is almost sadistic in its relentless tango rhythm and features Bley's piano and organ work as well as Carlos Ward on saxophones. Track 2, Copyright Royalties, is as Ellingtonian as anything she's ever written. Maybe the most beautiful song on the album is Útviklingssang (roughly translates from Norwegian as "development song"), named after Bley witnessed a protest march in Oslo against the building of dams to generate more energy for Norway which would adversely affect wildlife. So the title takes on more than one meaning and today I can't decide which one I'd prefer. Track 5, Floater is a tasteful take on a very early Carla Bley composition featuring bassist Steve Swallow. The album closes with a humorous, herky-jerky, post-bop piece, Walking Batteriewoman. As with all Bley albums, this rewards repeated listenings.

Personal Memory Associated with this CD: None. I was introduced to Bley and her music in early 1984, but really didn't catch on until about 15 years later.

Previously revisited for the blog:
Selected Recordings :rarum XV (2004)
Musique Mecanique (1979)

Pat Metheny & Lyle Mays - As Falls Wichita, So Falls Wichita Falls (1981)

Note: this release was originally given to me as a LP, later replaced by a CD.

In December 1984, my then-girlfriend gave me this Metheny/Mays album as well as a Canadian Brass album as gifts. As we listened to this album, she explained to me that the 21 minute title track on side 1 was more-or-less a tone poem about the 1979 Red River Valley tornado outbreak. With that suggestion placed in my mind, of course I could hear what she was talking about, right down to the counting of storm casualties around the 14:45 mark. I had no reason not to believe this woman, but I never saw any written confirmation of her claims. To be fair, she was probably just parroting something she'd been told. Or maybe, since we were both going to college at the time in 'Tornado Alley,' she was trying to frighten me and I'll have to admit I was susceptible to such tactics at that age.

However, music scholar Mervyn Cooke, in his fine book Pat Metheny: The ECM Years, 1975-1984, contradicts that claim:

Finally, after much searching, I came across this brief mention in Texas Monthly magazine:

Texas Monthly, June 1982, pp. 208, 210

Touring records indicate that Metheny had a date in Monroe, LA on April 10, 1979, but that's close enough as the storm moved east after hitting the Wichita Falls area. So which interpretation is correct? Hell if I know. Pick one. Or make one up yourself. Metheny didn't return requests for comment, most likely owing to the fact that I'm lazy and didn't make any such requests.

But enough of titles - let's move on to the music. Sure the title track can be a bit of a chore, but overall I like Metheny albums around this time when Brazilian vocalist/percussionist Nana Vasconcelos was a sideman. I really dig his contributions - plus he was a good influence on Metheny's writing, particularly evident in tracks 4 and 5, "It's For You" and Estupenda Graça (which roughly translates as 'amazing grace' and there's bits of that in there). And, other than the title track, there's a lot of acoustic instruments on this album, which adds a timelessness to this now 40 year old release.

Press of the time:

• Rolling Stone (★★★★): "a fantastic, ambitious piece of music"
• Downbeat (★★★★★): "You’d never suspect that some burg in the middle of the Great Plains could inspire such exotic music."
• Billboard: "sweeping guitar, keyboard and synthesizer tapestries"
• Record World: "Touching on rock, jazz and ethnic styles, they've created an LP for varied formats"
• Stereo Review: "quite pleasant to hear when you're in a float-away mood."
• Musician: "Half of this record I find frivolous and self-serving, though not in the extreme. Fortunately, every record has two sides, and the second is a success."
• High Fidelity: "All this has been done before and better by the Mahavishnu Orchestra."

I wouldn't mind hearing the 4:35 edit of Wichita on this 7"

Album chart peaks:

• US Billboard Top 200: #50
• Billboard Jazz: #1
• CashBox: #61
• CashBox Jazz: #2
• Record World Jazz: #5
• Rolling Stone: #36

Tracks: My favorite cut is track 4, "It's For You" and it's not even a close race even though, as noted by the reviewer for Musician magazine above, the tracks that make up what was side 2 of the album (tracks 2-5) are all quite enjoyable. As for the title track, I prefer the shorter version offered up on the live Travels album. It's got an very tuneful theme that, unfortunately, is never expanded or explored.

Curiously, both September Fifteenth and "It's for You" (tracks 3 & 4) appear in the soundtrack of the 1985 road trip comedy, Fandango.

Personal Memory Associated with this CD: The relationship between me and the above-mentioned "then-girlfriend" was probably doomed from the start as I was 18 and wanting to sow some wild oats while she was 23 and wanting to settle down and start a family. We lasted 7 or 8 months. It all made for a confusing and enlightening freshman year of college for myself.

I also had a good friend in college who was a huge Metheny fan. He had Metheny's entire catalog on prerecorded cassettes and was eager to share said tapes and talk about Metheny anytime, anyplace. If his social media feeds are factual, he remains a huge fan to this day. When I met this guy, the only Metheny I had previously heard was the Offramp album, so I eagerly lapped up earlier ECM jewels like American Garage and Pat Metheny Group, then First Circle was released and I was hooked. Hearing all those great albums in my late teens is probably why I still prefer Metheny's ECM recordings to his later stuff. And ultimately, in a bizarre, cosmic coincidence, that huge Metheny fan later ended up marrying the very same "then-girlfriend" who originally gave me this Wichita album back in '84. Life sure is a funny old dog.

Previously revisited for the blog:

:rarum IX (2004)	Travels (1983)
Different Trains (1989)	Offramp (1982)
Letter From Home (1989)	80/81 (1980)
The Falcon & The Snowman (1985)	American Garage (1979)
First Circle (1984)	Watercolors (1977)