AAJ Review, Ralph Towner/John Abercrombie, Five Years Later

[jkelman]

My review of ECM's first-time issue on CD, Ralph Towner/John Abercrombie's Five Years Later, today at All About Jazz.

The long overdue release of Ralph Towner and John Abercrombie's Five Years Later, originally released in 1982, may well be the most eagerly anticipated of the Re:Solutions series that brings into print—on CD, vinyl and digital format—seven historic ECM recordings (five titles making their CD debut). Add the three Abercrombie Quartet albums recorded immediately prior to Five Years Later—1979's Arcade, 1980's Abercrombie Quartet and 1981's M, planned for release later this year in an Old & New Masters Edition box—and all of these two seminal guitarists' ECM recordings will finally be in print on CD, and not a moment too soon.

When Towner and Abercrombie recorded Sargasso Sea in the spring of 1976, they'd already been friends for several years; Abercrombie, in fact, wrote the well-known waltz from his 1975 ECM debut, Timeless, on the piano in Towner's apartment in 1973, aptly titling it "Ralph's Piano Waltz." Abercrombie credits Towner— already established, by this time, as a stunning multi-instrumentalist and distinctive composer with an instantly recognizable harmonic voice, both solo and with improvising world music progenitor Oregon—with helping him develop his own approach to composition, and by the release of Five Years Later both had evolved into inimitable players, writers and, most importantly, musical partners. Like its predecessor, Five Years Later is split between individual compositions and collective improvisation, though this time a full 23 minutes of the album's 50-minute run time is devoted to spontaneous creation.


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[the winter tree]

I love the SARGASSO SEA album. Saw them perform at a small club in the late 80's. I've always loved Towner's and Abercrombie's music and their often experimental approach.

[jkelman]

I love the SARGASSO SEA album. Saw them perform at a small club in the late 80's. I've always loved Towner's and Abercrombie's music and their often experimental approach.

Well, then, you're gonna love this one. I like Sargasso Sea a great deal, but think I prefer this one by a hair....