•
Rating: Ralph Towner, born in 1940, a great guitarist but even more an extraordinary composer, is one of the figures who have quietly traversed the recent history of jazz, perhaps due to the austere restraint that characterizes his solo recordings and live performances. A versatile multi-instrumentalist (he plays six and twelve-string guitar, piano, trumpet, horn, percussion, and synthesizer), he has channeled much of this diverse stylistic curiosity into the seminal group Oregon, of which he is the leader and main composer. His guitar style starts from a classical approach, with a lyrical and engaged use of harmonics, then extends to flamenco and incorporates strong percussive elements - especially on the twelve-string, on which he is highly skilled.
Gary Burton, born in 1943, is considered by many the quintessential modern vibraphonist. An innovator of his instrument's technique, mastering with expertise the "four mallet" technique, he was a collaborator of Stan Getz and Chick Corea (renowned duo albums with the pianist), from whom he learned a love for melody, always at the forefront of his complex, almost polyphonic improvisations.
It was inevitable that two musicians, in some ways so similar, each a refined aesthete of their instrument, would end up in each other's orbits of attraction.
We are in 1975. Ralph Towner has one foot in America (the masterpieces of Oregon "Distant Hills" and "Winter Light" have just been released on Vanguard) and one in Europe, having already launched his solo career with ECM, releasing the essential "Diary". It is precisely under the aegis of ECM, with the musical intuition of patron Manfred Eicher, that this summit meeting takes place.
And this turns out to be more than anything a record of Towner's compositions, where as in many other occasions he exercises his peculiar compositional "dictatorship" - but his pieces are so beautiful... How can you say no to him? Burton performs and improvises, with his usual mix of virtuosity and good taste.
For "Townerophile" this is an unmissable opportunity: on a single album, the masterpieces "Drifting Petals", "Icarus", "Aurora", "Song For A Friend", caressed by Burton's vibraphone sound, particularly crystalline and resonant for the occasion.
The twilight "Drifting Petals", which opens the album, will be revisited the following year by a quartet including Towner, Jan Garbarek, Eberhard Weber and Jon Christensen (the album "Solstice" is unmissable). "Icarus" is the familiar, ethereal, ineffable anthem for which Towner's fame as a composer has crossed the planet's borders, given that there is a crater on the moon named "Icarus" in his honor.
"Song For A Friend", a lament of a sadness from which one cannot escape, is just a step below the superlative version given by the duo Towner-Moore on the Oregon album "Distant Hills"... But it was truly impossible to do better...
The highly romantic overture of "Aurora" gives Burton a cue for one of his runs, but then the classical guitar interrupts the magic in a splendid, intimate solo...
"Matchbook", the matchbox that dominates the cover, is placed on the bridge of Towner's guitar in the title track, to give the six-string a particularly "hard" and dry sound and start a tight exchange of solos with the vibraphonist.
Absolutely delightful, and fully in the chords of the two musicians' sensitivity, is the standard "Some Other Time".
The album closes with a fantastic reinterpretation of Mingus's "Good Bye Pork Pie Hat", a piece to which the guitarist is particularly attached, and which he will revisit in various versions, both live and in the studio.
Perfect understanding, interplay to the stars, engaging and melancholic music, but with moments of tight, thrilling dialogue. Promise kept, and many hours guaranteed of priceless listening. Ralph Towner and Gary Burton: THANK YOU.
Tracklist
Loading comments slowly
