I drifted further into Jazz in the ’80s, as Rock seemed to have arrived at
midlife crisis and degenerated into stadium prancing. The themes had all been stated
and were now being consolidated. I remained loyal to one or two stalwarts, such as
King Crimson, Steve Winwood and Gabriel. Apart from Japan, I managed to ignore any
hint of New Romance. Guitar heroes were now metal heads, and, being too old to grock
and roll, I quietly took my leave. It will perhaps remain a sociological puzzle that
this music which grew from the twelve bar Blues became with time the furiously
technical shredding of Yngwie Malmsteen. The Swede forced the new rockers to study
Pagannini to stay in the race. Grab a listen to his first album, Rising
Force. It reminds me of Al DiMeola’s flash playing on Elegant Gypsy
in places. I wondered where Tull drummer Barriemore Barlow had gone.
One exception was Mark Knopfler, because if you bought a CD player in 1985, there
were only ten CDs available, and
Brothers in Arms was by far the best
recorded. It has suffered from overkill, because we all know it so well, but
nonetheless it shines.
Trevor Horn had dismissed Yes as a ‘white elephant’ after leaving the
band as its singer. In 1983, they emerged with a new style, greatly assisted by said
Trevor Horn as producer. New guitarist Trevor Rabin sparkles and cuts on
90125.
Ralph Towner has earned his place in the pantheon of great acoustic guitarists. His
Blue Sun is one among many exceptional albums. It first attracted me to ECM,
and for once I followed a label, rather than a single artist. A label formed for love
of music, but also successfully managed — sadly a rare combination in this
furiously commercial world. ECM housed the work of several exceptional acoustic
guitarists — Towner also appeared with Oregon, and I am very fond of Egberto
Gismonti’s work too.
I first heard the quirky Bill Frisell in the early ’80s. I am still uncertain
about some of his forays as a leader, though
Have a Little Faith, which
explores the entire corpus of American music from Copland through Muddy Waters to
Madonna, is truly exceptional. I was both overwhelmed and baffled by a performance
of his Powertools trio. I love his work as a side man, especially on Eberhard
Weber’s beautiful
Later That Evening and Kenny Wheeler’s
Angel Song. He was also great as part of Marc Johnson’s Bass Desires,
and plays beautifully on Norah Jones’s
Come Away with Me. His own
In Line contains one of the spaciest pieces of guitar ever heard,
On
the Beach.
Frisell has a distinctive sound, which as I’ve said is an unusual achievement
for an electric guitarist. Because David Torn has found some of the same rare timbres,
he is sometimes confused with Frisell. This is a dirty, rotten shame, because David Torn
is one of the finest exponents of the instrument. Inspired, as he says, by
Hendrix’s ‘burning electric wall of Voodoo’, Torn has successfully
bridged the chasm between Progressive Rock and Jazz. All too often jazzers lose the pure
power of Rock music to their delicacy of approach. The finesse of the embroidering hand
and the vicious use of a meat cleaver do not necessarily sit well together. Not so David
Torn who handles both blade and needle equally well and often simultaneously. He has a
wide and wonderful range of sounds, and is capable of turning on a sixpence (or maybe a
dime) from gut-wrenching to the featheriest of tickles.
Torn’s work as a leader includes the exceptionally fine
Cloud About
Mercury (with King Crimson’s Bruford and Levin, and trumpeter Mark Isham). His
guest work with Michael Shrieve on
Stiletto is excellent, as are
his performances on Marty Fogel’s
Many Bobbing Heads at Last, and on Nauseef
and Tadic’s
The Snake Music (with Jack Bruce, great stuff,
if a bit weird in places). Torn is an experimenter, and has ventured to
the horizons of sound on his
What Means Solid Traveller? Like Robert Fripp he is a master of the
soundscape
— hear
Tripping Over God. More recently he has worked with David Bowie
— hear him on the excellent
Heathen. I love him so much that I have written
him his very own article. (
Read more on david torn.)
I came relatively late to the work of John Abercrombie. He has been setting Jazz standards
(sorry, couldn’t help myself there) for decades. A beautiful, lyrical player who is
also capable of emitting jarring anxiety. I love his work with Peter Erskine and Mark Johnson,
for instance, on
Getting There. I’m still listening to it with some regularity
after about 15 years. He also made fine, innovative albums with Downbeat’s all-time
favourite drummer, Jack de Johnette.
Pat Metheny stands out as an original — though he pays homage to Wes Montgomery, too.
If anyone represents the gentleness of Hippiedom, it is none of the psychedelic guitarists,
but this man. And it isn’t just the superlong hair. Metheny is a highly
accomplished guitarist, and has a great range of work behind him; ranging
from his collaborations with the great innovator of fretless bass, Jaco
Pastorius — on
Bright Size Life,
and with Joni Mitchell on
Shadows and Light — to the beautiful
Electric
Counterpoint, with minimalist composer Stever Reich. Metheny plays straight ahead
Jazz with Dewey Redman on the excellent
80/81. Metheny also played
with the equally mellow Gary Burton, and they reprised their association on
Reunion.
Metheny’s work as leader — almost always in co-operation with wonderful
keyboardist Lyle Mays — includes such great albums as
Offramp and
Still
Life Talking.
Watercolour, with maestro of double bass Eberhard
Weber is the gentlest of music. Carlos Santana introduced Metheny at the Live
Aid concert, and they share a passion for Latin music.
Terje Rypdal is a Norwegian classical pianist and composer who was inspired
by Hendrix to teach himself guitar. His almost ambient wide open spaces and
shattering chords fit surprisingly well into a Jazz context. I like
Eos, which he made with cellist
David Darling. I also listen to his fine orchestral album
Undisonus, especially
the piece for choir and chamber orchestra
Ineo.
John Scofield passed through the Miles Davis band after
establishing an illustrious solo career. Time with either Miles Davis or Frank
Zappa is the best of musical credentials. Scofield is a great exemplar of
Blues guitar, welded to cutting Rock and perfect Jazz technique (described
in AMG with the words ‘post bop fusion soul jazz’).
Slow Sco collects some of his ballads. Like Metheny he cut great albums with
vibist Gary Burton, including
Times Like These, an immaculte melding of great
talents. He joins Frisell on the credits for Mark Johnson’s superb
Bass
Desires.
Andy Summers was the first guitar player to jam with Hendrix when he arrived in England.
He had to wait over a decade to achieve fame, but it was immense when it arrived. Since
the Police, he has been able to do exactly what he wants, and he has. He collaborated with
Michael Shrieve on the aforementioned Stiletto. He has also worked with the fine
Mr Fripp. There is an inexpensive sampler of three of his solo albums released as A
Windham Hill Retrospective. The music is extremely more exciting that the title. Jazz
with a backbeat. I have yet to hear his more recent Earth + Sky (and there is no
way that I’m going to try and put Real Player on my computer again), but with Abe
Laboriel and Vinnie Colaiuta in the back line it should be as good as the four stars AMG
give it.
March2004
