Pat Metheny, Garbarek, Burton: Hommage à Eberhard Weber - CD

ECM Records

€17,90
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SKU:
ECM2463
UPC:
0602547323422
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Edition:
1x CD
ECM Records Cat#:
ECM2463
Released:
11.9.2015 in Germany
Original Release:
Label ECM Records Cat# 473 2463
Genre:
Jazz
Artist:
Pat Metheny, Garbarek, Burton
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In January 2015 musicians and listeners converged upon Stuttgart’s Theaterhaus for two consecutive nights to celebrate the 75th birthday of Eberhard Weber. The concerts centered around a specially commissioned 35-minute suite by Pat Metheny, with whom Weber had played and recorded back in the 1970s. Featuring Metheny, the SWR Big Band conducted by Helge Sunde, Gary Burton, bassist Scott Colley and Danny Gottlieb on drums, the composition was arranged around recordings of solos by Weber. Other performers during the two nights playing selections from Weber’s vast body of work were Weber’s longtime companions Jan Garbarek, Paul McCandless, and arranger Michael Gibbs, all drawing ovations from the packed house.

“A truly special event, this.” Michael Tucker, Jazz Journal.

Tracklist:

1 Résumé Variations 8:00
2 Hommage 31:33
3 Touch 8:19
4 Maurizius 9:26
5 Tübingen 6:55
6 Notes After An Evening 5:32

Alto Saxophone – Klaus Graf
Alto Saxophone [SWR Big Band], Flute [SWR Big Band], Piccolo Flute [SWR Big Band], Clarinet [SWR Big Band] – Matthias Erlewein
Alto Saxophone [SWR Big Band], Soprano Saxophone [SWR Big Band], Clarinet [SWR Big Band] – Klaus Graf
Baritone Saxophone [SWR Big Band], Bass Clarinet [SWR Big Band] – Pierre Paquette
Bass Trombone [SWR Big Band] – Georg Maus
Bass [SWR Big Band] – Decebal Badila
Conductor [SWR Big Band] – Helge Sunde
Double Bass – Scott Colley
Drums – Danny Gottlieb
Drums [SWR Big Band], Percussion [SWR Big Band] – Guido Jöris
English Horn, Soprano Saxophone – Paul McCandless
Euphonium – Ernst Hutter
Guitar [Guitars] – Pat Metheny
Guitar [SWR Big Band] – Klaus-Peter Schöpfer
Orchestra – SWR Big Band
Piano [SWR Big Band], Keyboards [SWR Big Band] – Klaus Wagenleiter
Soprano Saxophone – Jan Garbarek
Tenor Saxophone [SWR Big Band], Flute [SWR Big Band], Piccolo Flute [SWR Big Band], Clarinet [SWR Big Band] – Axel Kühn
Tenor Saxophone [SWR Big Band], Soprano Saxophone [SWR Big Band], Flute [Alto Flute] [SWR Big Band], Clarinet [SWR Big Band] – Andi Maile
Trombone [SWR Big Band] – Ian Cumming, Marc Godfroid
Trombone [SWR Big Band], Euphonium [SWR Big Band] – Ernst Hutter
Trumpet, Flugelhorn [SWR Big Band] – Felice Civitareale, Karl Farrent, Martin Auer, Nemanja Jovanovic, Rudi Reindl
Vibraphone – Gary Burton

BACKGROUND

Drawn from jubilee concerts at Stuttgart’s Theaterhaus to mark Eberhard Weber’s 75th birthday, Hommage is a remarkable live album incorporating big band arrangements of Weber compositions as well as striking new music from old friends Pat Metheny and Jan Garbarek.

The programme is opened by Jan Garbarek, Weber’s associate of many years, with characteristically powerful and inventive soprano sax improvisations over loops of Weber’s bass. Eberhard played with the Jan Garbarek Group for a quarter-century, from 1982 to 2007, and the essential compatibility of the sounds of the Norwegian saxophonist and the German bassist is evident once again in these “Résumé Variations”.

The centerpiece of the album – and the title track here – is a specially commissioned work by Pat Metheny, with whom Weber had played and recorded back in the 1970s (on ECM albums including Pat’s own Watercolors as well as Gary Burton’s Ring and Passengers). Featuring the SWR Big Band conducted by Helge Sunde, Gary Burton, Scott Colley and Danny Gottlieb, this extended composition is built upon recordings of solo improvisations by Weber, subtly orchestrated by Metheny. Pat explains his methodology in his liner notes: “Since Eberhard’s stroke in 2007, he has not been able to play. But I felt that his sonic identity was such a huge component in his work that I wanted to somehow acknowledge it in whatever form I could. It came to me that it would be interesting to take the idea of sampling one step further; to find video elements of Eberhard improvising and then reorganize, chop, mix and orchestrate elements of those performances together into a new composition with a large projection of the Eberhard moments that I chose filling a screen behind us as we performed. It seemed like a new way to compose for me that would almost take the form of visual sampling.”

This ambitious undertaking captivated the Stuttgart audience and generated rave reviews from international media. Sebastian Scotney of UK daily The Telegraph noted: “The writing for big band had character, depth and a strong narrative, with adventurous and quite magical part-writing such as four low flutes and the trombones playing pedal notes over an arpeggiating vibraphone. The ending was particularly touching. Metheny had given Weber's recorded bass the lead voice while his own fingers, sliding up and down the guitar strings, produced ghostly, ethereal sounds.” Metheny’s “Hommage” is a piece that roves through a range of moods with strong soloing from the composer and from Gary Burton, as well as dynamic ‘interaction’ between Eberhard (on tape) and live bass player Scott Colley.

Gary Burton on vibes and Ernst Hutter from the SWR Big Band on euphonium are the soloists on an elegant rendering of “Touch”, a composition from Weber’s Yellow Fields recording, arranged for the Stuttgart event by Ralf Schmid, while both “Maurizius” from Later That Evening (in an arrangement by Michael Gibbs) and “Tübingen” from Resumé (arranged by Rainer Tempel) feature Burton and Oregon’s Paul McCandless as soloists.
The concerts concluded – as this album does – with the aptly-titled “Notes After An Evening”, a Weber original from his 1993 solo-recording Pendulum, now performed by the SWR Big Band with Gary Burton, Paul McCandless and alto saxophonist Klaus Graf.

(The digital-download version of Hommage à Eberhard Weber adds a bonus bonus track, “Street Scenes”, performed in Stuttgart in an arrangement by Libor Sima, and with solos by Burton and McCandless).

CD recordings carry 2 year warranty if treated properly. No returns of used product.