Eberhard Weber
Silent Feet

THE REVIEW

The great jazz bassists can be counted on one hand. Eberhard Weber is certainly one of them. His music has a compelling lyricism. The palette of his colors, extraordinarily rich, has served as harmonic support to Garbarek, whose poetic music reveals obvious harmonies with his own. Weber is not a virtuoso of the instrument, his virtue has never been speed but the clarity of sound, the elegance of writing, and the fine quality of the arrangements. The most celebrated albums are the first, The Colours of Chloë, from 1973, with a varied formation that also includes a string section, and Yellow Fields, which features a more classic ensemble (keyboards, sax, and drums).

The reviewed album is produced by the famous ECM, a major that has launched a unique "sound" of its own and that is a sort of enchanted forest, where we can discover alluring fairies and peaceful goblins, splendid treasures, often hidden, of incomparable beauty, but sometimes also gloomy gnomes, and one must carefully approach its sonic environment. And it is precisely "Silent Feet" the album I would like to suggest, consisting of just three tracks, masterfully played by our artist and accompanied by the splendid drums of John Marshall, and the little-known Rainer Bruninghaus on piano and Charlie Mariano on sax. It is a commendable album, not for all tastes certainly, but it always remains essentially tonal and melodic. It avoids the monotone minimalism of some other albums, it is not as "specialized" as Pendulum, a work for bass alone, and it doesn't even have those references to modern chamber music of his first album. In particular, the solo piano intro of the first track, Seriously Deep, is worth the entire purchase: simply extraordinary. The five-string bass of the German moves sinuously between the delicate and intriguing arpeggios of Bruninghaus; gradually the sax joins, pushing the theme to more energetic and vigorous tones, and the track flows well, appreciated in one breath. The two subsequent tracks, "Silent Feet" and "Eyes That Can See In The Dark" are no less. Not only the title track, with a very imaginative middle section in Jarrett style, but also the last one, initially so "dark" and unsettling, unfolds rapidly with an increasingly linear development until reaching the sonic peak with the instrumental "full," before returning to a more relaxed atmosphere like a river that has finished its run and placidly merges with the sea. An album challenging but brimming with music.