Edward Vesala - Nan Madol (1974)
Bengt Berger - Bitter Funeral Beer (1981)
a couple of really strong first listens there
Two of the jewels of the ECM catalogue!
Thread duty:
Heard Root 70 live in May and was impressed, bought several discs off leader Nils Wogram after the concert and chatted a bit, too. Wogram (he lives near Zurich but is from Germany originally) is heard on trombone, New Zealander Hayden Chisholm is on alto, his countryman Matt Penman on bass, and Jochen Rückert (again from Germany) on drums. Their music is intimate (they played unamplified and had set up their gear on a large carpet in front of the stage, to be on the same level as the audience - that was more than just a nice gesture, and I admire those very, very few bands that are able to play unamplified, that's an art long lost in most types of music, alas, yet for jazz it should be as natural as it is for classical).
The tunes - mostly by Wogram - are often intricate, using odd meters and unusual structures, his 'bone playing is amazing, he uses microtones and harmonizes by adding his voice (Mangelsdorff did that often, too), while Chisholm is kind of a cool counterpoint with a sound that reminds me a bit of Paul Desmond, and an amazing fluidity, too ... the rhythm section is agile and handles those weird structures with such ease that often you don't even realize they're in 7 right now ... truly a great band, that maybe sometimes is a bit too chamber-jazz-like for my taste, but I reckon they would be right down the alley of several people posting here with some regularity (the "ECM fraction" if I may call you that ... I admire ECM but will always feel somewhat ambiguous and there are corners in the catalogue I have not felt like checking out at all so far and don't think that's going to change).
Either way, if you have the chance, check out Root 70 somewhere (youtube, streaming, what do I know, I'm the dinosaur that still buys tons of CDs all of the time ... note so self: get enough cash at the ATM tonight for tomorrow's afternoon concert with the Schlippenbach Trio ... they might have some CDs with 'em!)
