WAVES

Terje Rypdal from Norway grew out of the sixties pop movement and became an established name in jazz / fusion at the turn of the decade. Eventually Rypdal would become a frontman of the ECM style jazz during the seventies, of which this record 'Waves' is a good example. With his ARP synth Rypdal lays down carpets of dark spacey chord progressions whilst letting the bass and drum creating most of rhythms. His lead guitar tone reminds me a bit of the electric guitar of Steve Hackett, but of course his choice of notes is more dissonant and experimental. His playing is expressive with heavy vibrato's on important notes. He never shreds like most of the fusion guitarist do. A good display of willful and thoughtful musicianship. The leads by Palle Mikkelborg on trumpet and flugelhorn are equally important and add to the spacey dark atmosphere. The overall impact of the record is between that of a great soundtrack (think of 'Bladerunner') and an exciting prog-fusion record (perhaps a bit like Brand X). I like it much better than his 1971 'Terje Rypdal' soundscape drenched album, which I though was rather uneventful. The recording quality of 'Waves' is simply outstanding. To the point where it is almost impossible to believe it was recorded in 1978. A broad high-fi recording sound would be an important feature of the jazz records released on the ECM Records label. I really like this record and I hope some other vinyl reprints of his early career will appear soon.