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Jan Garbarek: Universal Syncopations

 A l b u m   D e t a i l s


Label: ECM Records
Released: 1990
Time:
 54:10
Category: Jazz
Producer(s): Manfred Eicher and Miroslav Vitous
Rating: *****..... (5/10)
Media type: CD
Web address: www.ecmrecords.com
Appears with: Keith Jarrett, Eberhard Weber, Chick Corea  Jack DeJohnette, John McLaughlin
Purchase date: 2003.11.04
Price in €: 15,99



 S o n g s ,   T r a c k s


[1] Bamboo Forest (M.Vitous) - 4:37
[2] Univoyage (M.Vitous) - 10:54
[3] Tramp Blues (M.Vitous) - 5:19
[4] Faith Run (M.Vitous) - 4:58
[5] Sun Flower (M.Vitous) - 7:21
[6] Miro Bop (M.Vitous) - 4:03
[7] Beethoven (J.Garbarek/M.Vitous) - 7:18
[8] Medium (J.DeJohnette/M.Vitous) - 5:09
[9] Brazil Waves (J.Garbarek/M.Vitous) - 4:26

 A r t i s t s ,   P e r s o n n e l


MIROSLAV VITOUS - Double Bass, Editing, Mixing
JAN GARBAREK - Soprano & Tenor Saxophone
JACK DEJOHNETTE - Drums
JOHN MCLAUGHLIN - Guitar
CHICK COREA - Piano

VALERY PONOMAREV - Trumpet on [2],[4]
WAYNE BERGERON - Trumpet [2],[4]
ISAAC SMITH - Trombone [2],[4]

MANFRED EICHER - Editing, Mixing
JAN ERIK KONGSHAUG - Editing, Mixing
SASCHA KLEIS - Cover Design
ALLAN TITMUSS - Photography
DANIEL VRABEC - Photography

 C o m m e n t s ,   N o t e s


2003 CD ECM 000128902



On his first jazz date as a leader since 1992, Czechoslovakian bassist and composer Miroslav Vitous comes out of the gate with a host of heavyweights on one of the more lyrically swinging dates in modern jazz. Vitous' engaged, pulsing, and deeply woody tone is featured in the company of John McLaughlin, Jan Garbarek, Chick Corea, and Jack DeJohnette. While the crystalline sound of Manfred Eicher's ECM is everywhere here, as is the open-ended speculative jazz that the label is renowned — and ridiculed for — Vitous offers some startlingly beautiful twists and turns with his ensemble. Vitous, who has been through every music, from jazz-rock fusion as a founding member of Weather Report to being a classical composer, decided to revisit the skeletal remains of his very first session for the label in 1969. Produced by Herbie Mann the disc was, from a musical standpoint, a contentious, utterly brilliant marriage of ideas both old and new. Bandmembers DeJohnette and McLaughlin were present on those sides as well. Universal Syncopations is by turns a return to not the old forms, but rather to the manner of illustrating harmonic concepts in a quintet setting that allows for a maximum space between ensemble players while turning notions of swing, counterpoint, and rhythmic invention on their heads. From the wooly, expressionistic "Tramp Blues," with Vitous vamping around the changes, to the wide-open legato guitar phrasing of McLauglin against the double time in Vitous' bass on "Univoyage," to the simmering undulations of Garbarek's saxophones on top of Corea's intricate melodies and right-hand runs on "Brazilan Waves," all of it propelled, not anchored, by the leader's rich tone and accented and punctuated by Garbarek's tight, loping saxophone lines. This is one of those recordings that feels familiar in tone, but is timeless in concept and execution. Universal Syncopations is one of the most gorgeous sounding and toughly played dates of the calendar year.

Thom Jurek - All-Music Guide, © 1992 - 2003 AEC One Stop Group, Inc.



An awesomely serene, self-confident recording. There are melodies here, but they have their place; for the most part the group gets an entire album - and a very good one - out of the merest suggestions.

The New York Times



Was für eine Besetzung: Chick Corea am Klavier, Jan Garbarek, Saxofon, Jack DeJohnette am Schlagzeug und John McLaughlin, Gitarre. Der Bandleader heißt Miroslav Vitous, ein Gigant am Kontrabass, ein exzellenter Komponist, ein Mann, der ebenso wie die anderen in der Band ein Stück Musikgeschichte mitgeschrieben hat. Vitous gründete 1970 zusammen mit Wayne Shorter und Joe Zawinul die erste Weather-Report-Formation. Das Debütalbum des Tschechen, Infinite Search (1969, mit John McLaughlin, Herbie Hancock, Joe Henderson und JackDe Johnette), galt damals als ein Meilenstein des zeitgenössischen Jazz. Universal Syncopations knüpft an den Spirit dieser legendären Aufnahme an, nimmt nach über 30 Jahren den Faden wieder auf und spinnt ihn konsequent weiter. Alles klingt nach Vitous: intelligente Moderne, zwischen Swing und Freiheit, bombastischer Sound und sanfte Ansprache, Vitous begegnet Musik mit Zartheit und Respekt. Die Stücke bei Universal Syncopations sind häufig auf eine kurze thematische Idee und ein konstantes rhythmisches Feel reduziert. Danach kommen spontan entwickelte Teile und Soli, die meistens eng mit dem Kollektiv verwoben sind. Jack DeJohnette ist einer, der im Mittelpunkt steht, präsent in der Abmischung, dezent (für seine Verhältnisse) in der Ausführung. Ein bisschen zu dezent werden Chick Corea und John McLaughlin behandelt, sie sind eigentlich kaum zu hören: Die Hauptprotagonisten heißen Jan Garbarek (ausnehmend brillant!) und Miroslav Vitous (niemals aufdringlich, aber immer da), sowie Jack DeJohnette. Ein süffiges Jazzalbum voller Reife ist entstanden, zweifellos, konzentrierte 60 Minuten geballter Musikalität.

Katharina Lohmann - Amazon.de



Recorded between March 2000 and March 2003, the highly lyrical and rhythmically engaging Universal Syncopations has all the hallmarks of an ECM classic-in-the-making. Playing pizzicato throughout and contributing (or cocontributing) all the compositions, Miroslav Vitous, the great Czech bassist and cofounder of Weather Report, is joined by some of the finest musicians of the past few decades, who have done much to create the landscape of contemporary jazz: Jan Garbarek, Chick Corea, John McLaughlin and Jack DeJohnette. Vitous and Garbarek have recorded together twice before on ECM, on the 1991 Star and 1993 Atmos, and their melodic and dynamic empathy is a major feature here. Both contribute some of the strongest, most jazz-oriented work they have recorded for many a year, with DeJohnette's multi-directional stimulation enhanced on occasion by some urgently spun lines from McLaughlin and dabs of both rhythmic contrast and complementary colour from Corea. The album opens and closes with now-nudging, now-floating trio reflections from the leader, Garbarek and DeJohnette. In between, Vitous and DeJohnette duet on "Medium" while three tracks, including the 10-minute, shape-shifting odyssey that is "Univoyage", feature judicious moments of harmonic and rhythmic punctuation from a brass ensemble of Wayne Bergeron, Valerie Ponomarev and Isaac Smith. Such a diversity of arrangements also includes a deliciously relaxed "Tramp Blues", the more abstracted Vitous/Garbarek/DeJohnette meditation of "Beethoven" and superb Vitous/Garbarek/Corea/DeJohnette interplay on the alternately flowing and fiery quartet pieces "Sun Flower" and "Miro Bop". For all such diversity, the album is very much an integrated whole. Thirty years ago, when Vitous's ground-breaking 1969 Infinite Search (which featured McLaughlin and DeJohnette) was reissued on Atlantic, sleeve-note writer Michael Cuscuna observed, "Being a virtuoso of the bass, Miroslav constructs and develops the music around his instrument. But he uses it as the focal point with grace and taste, never with burdensome over-indulgence." Such words are equally applicable to Universal Syncopations--an album of maturely conceived, deeply satisfying music, where compositional character and improvisational finesse remain in fructifying balance from first note to last.

Michael Tucker - Amazon.co.uk

 

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