Phillips, Barre - Mountainscapes
SKU
28-ECM 1076
John Surman: saxophones, bass clarinet, synthesizer
Barre Phillips: double bass
Stu Martin: drums, synthesizer
Dieter Feichtner: synthesizer
John Abercrombie: guitar
This amazing album is one of the greats of the early ECM catalog. Interestingly, it’s The Trio [Surman, Phillips, Martin] after they had stopped being an active unit + two (great) others. Hugely recommended.
“Barre Phillips’s Mountainscapes brings together strongly contrasting elements, the furious high-energy playing of the Surman/Phillips/Martin trio juxtaposed with spacious impressionistic pieces originally created for Carolyn Carlson’s ballet dancers. The integration of acoustic instruments and electronics (with three of the musicians playing synthesizers) is beautifully balanced in the production. John Abercrombie dropped by the studio to jam on the last track, raising the energy level still higher. Recorded in March 1976, Mountainscapes was described by Melody Maker as “vast, awesome and glorious” and “a starting point for the shape of jazz to come.””