ECM Records has been cleaning out its attic lately, and finding some undiscovered joys in the dusty corners. They found a beaut of a Jarrett performance last year, and now they’ve found and put out a double album of a previously unreleased concert from Munich’s Amerika Haus back in 1981. Jan Garbarek brings his icy tenor and duduk-sounding soprano and teams up with luminous bassist Charlie Haden and romantic guitarist/pianist Egberto Gismonti for some pastoral and panoramic musical musings.
The trio occasionally gets fiery and feisty, as on the feverish “Chego Aderado” which has Garbarek’s tinny soprano arm wrestling with Gismonti’s Mediterranean guitar pickings on intricate lines. For the most part, though, the mood is gently romantic as if you’re meandering down the winding and narrow streets of Spain or Northern Morocco. “Carta de Amor” and “Passionaria” feature some wondrous Iberian guitar work by Gismonti, while his piano on “All That Is Beautiful” is lovingly ruminative. Haden keeps it all together with a flexible bass which has a folky flavor of its own on “Spor.” Contemplative music in an excellent sense.
ECM Records
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