Neues von ECM: John ABERCROMBIE und FOOD

This 3-CD set with recordings from 1978 to 1980, issued in ECM’s acclaimed Old & New Masters series, returns some historically-important material to the catalogue, namely the albums Arcade, Abercrombie Quartet and M. The quartet with Richie Beirach, George Mraz and Peter Donald – John Abercrombie’s first touring band as a leader – was the group in which the guitarist defined some priorities, moving away from a jazz-rock period into a more spacious, impressionistic and original music. Abercrombie and pianist Beirach had a strong musical rapport as improvisers and wrote almost all of the band’s book between them. George Mraz and Peter Donald provided imaginative support. For this edition the recordings – made in Oslo and Ludwigsburg and produced by Manfred Eicher – were remastered from original analog sources.

The British/Norwegian Food duo of Iain Ballamy and Thomas Strønen are joined again by Austrian guitarist and electronics player Christian Fennesz for a new album of powerful grooves, evocative textures and exploratory improvisation, sometimes hypnotically insistent, sometimes turbulent. The project was recorded with engineer Ulf Holand and mixed together with Manfred Eicher – the first time Eicher and Holand have collaborated since Nils Petter Molvaer’s Khmer, almost 20 years ago. Thomas Strønen describes the sound of This Is Not A Miracle as “heavier, dryer, connecting more with how we actually sound live.”