SOLSTICE

Well it absolutely fantastic to see Ralph Towner added to Progressive Archives. An important ECM artist for mostly minimalist jazz instrumentals, alongside the likes of Jan Garbarek and Eberhard Weber or even keyboardist Keith Jarrett.

What needs to be said about Solstice? An absolutely stunning aural tapestry of sound encompassing all the characteristics one would feel or find with Winter, distant sun, weak sunlight, falling leaves or still frozen lakes and driven snow. It's depiction of this mood is so accurately kicked off with the splendid Oceanus. Towner's 12 string guitar is simply beautiful as is Garbarek's flute. A major highlight throughout Solstice is Eberhard Weber's bass and cello playing too. The musicianship holds this album together extremely well and being under the ECM banner/or progressive sound one can tell on listening and appreciating it why the music does not age at all. Anyway "Oceanus" take the listener on a swirling 11 minute ride before the alien song called ' Visitation' steps in. Perhaps one of the few songs that really does send shivers down the spine when depicting the possibilities of alien life. The most unusual track on the album but not unpleasant, reminds the reviewer morelike of amoeba and still pond life in midst of Winter. ' Drifting Petals" closes side one and is a beautiful seven minute passage and in the reviewers opinion the most accessible song on Solstice. Side two follows with ' Nimbus' which is an extremely clever piece of music with quirky time signatures as Weber and Towner interchange expertly between cello, bass and 12 string. Winter Solstice is next and here and the next few songs is where Garbarek seems to have more license to play out the album with the exception of Piscean Dance.

In summary this album would have received a fiver star rating had the album not dissipated so readily after Winter Solstice. It is an exceptional work that will require repeated listens by people new to RT before fully appreciating how important this work is.Four and a half stars.

This album is one of cornerstone of European modern jazz. Excellent expressionist sound pictures painted by Towner's guitar, ECM founder Eberhard's bass, great jazz drummer Jon Hristensen and Nordic trumpet genius Jan Garbarek just build all the basis for what will be named "ECM sound" later.

Cool, aerial, melancholic, but Nordic- not too much sensitive, compositions, showed that improv jazz music could be not only interesting, but beautiful as well. Possibly, the best Towner work to time, at the same time is one of the best trumpeter's Jan Garbarek work as well! It is more than enough to name this album excellent.

Album's opener - 10 minutes long "Ocean" shows to listener all he must to know about this album. If you like Nordic jazz, you will love this song as well. After you heard the opener, you are ready to listen all the album. Every composition is excellent, but you know now what to wait.

Music fluctuates between folksy jazz improvs and acoustic fusion, being free and beautiful at the same time. Rare combination of accessibility and complexity.

If you're newbie to Ralph Towner, Jan Garbarek, or ECM sound in whole, just start there. Possibly you will find your new interest in music.

My rating is 4+.

On Solstice, Ralph Towner presents a style of fusion which sometimes musters the volcanic fury of the Mahavishnu Orchestra, but just as often explores more downbeat and melancholy territory than fusion usually deals with. As a genre whose fans prize fast, technical playing, fusion doesn't often do "quiet", but Towner manages to pull it off brilliantly here, helping to establish the basis of the distinctive ECM sound along the way. And amazingly enough, it's mostly improvised too! Towner's Northern European backing band prove to be more than capable of supporting Towner's vision, and whilst the album might not be one of the more famous products of the fusion era, it's certainly one of the more original ones.

Recorded in December of 1974 in Oslo's Arne Bendiksen Studio with Jan Erik Kongshaug sitting behind the engineering console, it was released during the following year by ECM--perhaps as late as September. Many consider this album as a defining moment--even one the crowning achievements--of Manfred Eicher's ECM label.

A1. "Oceanus" (10:58) a very cool, very fresh sound with Jon Christensen and Ralph Towner keeping busy on their respective instruments while Eberhard Weber almost drones away on his bowed electric bass (or cello) and Jan Garbarek fills the front with periodic exhalations from his sonorous tenor sax. The quartet amps up the intensity and volume a bit in the fifth minute before Ralph enters into a jazzy 12-string solo. I'm hard pressed to tell you whether or not the syncopated rhythm 12-string work is the same track with Ralph playing it all at once or whether there is a completely separate track dedicated explicitly to each (lead and rhythm). Jon Christensen's infinitely-nuanced cymbal and snare work is so patiently deployed, responding to Ralph's guitar work that it almost feels as if the two were joined at the brain. And Jan and Eberhard's contributions are so respectful, so reactive and ego-less. (I think that would be the quality I can claim to like best with regards to Jan's saxophone playing: his patient response to both external and internal "calls to action.") Brilliant and enjoyable song despite lacking much in the way of melody. (Weird to think that Eberhard's drone-like bass notes may have been the most melodic in the song--at least in terms of a Western sensibility of what is "melodic.") (18/20)

A2. "Visitation" (2:32) an exercise in Nature and primordial recreation. (4.333/5) A3. "Drifting Petals" (6:56) Ralph on solo piano playing a playful, gentle, introspective pastoral tune is joined in the second minute by Jan's flute. In the third minute, drums, reverberated fretless electrified bass, and Ralph's 12-string guitar step forward to creepy-crawl an exercise in hypervigilance--one that each of these ECM masters are completely up to task. The whole-band dynamic interplay in the fifth minute--both loud and soft--provides a real emotional peak. And the return to gentle piano arpeggi and guitar flute for the final minute is a display of sheer perfection in symmetry. (13.75/15)

B1. "Nimbus" (6:25) here is where I see fodder and inspiration for Pat Metheny's own solo acoustic guitar work. My favorite song on the album: it's absolutely gorgeous music. After 2:30 of exquisite solo acoustic guitar work the band is slowly coaxed into joining Ralph: first Jan's flute, then a slow entry of Jon' beautifully nuanced drumming, along with more tracks of Ralph's guitars and two tracks of Eberhard: one on bowed cello and one on upright double bass. Once full speed has been reached Ralph's awesome 12-string play is met face-to-face with Eberhard's dynamic double bass play and the entry of Jan's perfectly-balancing tenor sax. I don't always like Jan's work (or that of any saxophonist) but this is amazing--and powerful! Great, rousing band interplay over the course of those final couple minutes. Wonderful music even acoustic musicians can make thanks to the magic of multi-tracking! (10/10)

B2. "Winter Solstice" (3:58) Ralph playing near-Spanish style classical guitar with Jan meeting and matching him all along the way with his soprano sax. Man! These two are so in sync--so attuned! And both are definitely putting their full virtuosity on full display. Though I'm not such a fan of the melodies chosen/played by the two, I am so incredibly impressed by their astonishing timing in conveying them that I can't help but be won over. Standing ovations for this one! (9.75/10)

B3. "Piscean Dance" (3:33) funk in acoustic jazz?!? Jon Christensen and Ralph are definitely trying their best to demonstrate its possibility! Definitely a song that both impresses and endears both artists to me even more. (9.3333/10)

B4. "Red And Black" (1:12) electric guitar, volume-controlled whale sounds from Eberhard's electrified bass, and Ralph's acoustic guitar explorations--all coming together as if purely intended as an exploration of a certain sound possibility. (4.375/5)

B5. "Sand" (4:07) droning (and, probably, heavily-effected) sustained bowed cello notes joined by double bass notes with soprano sax splatterings and, eventually, Jon's funky drum play and effected 12-string guitar strums and gentle pickings all come together to create a sound palette that sounds remarkably similar to that which Corrado Rustici, Elio D'Anna, Percy Jones, Renato Rosset, and Narada Michael Walden will be creating for their 1976 NOVA album, Vimana. (9.33333/10)

Total Time: 40:57

I am emotionally and mentally blown away by the music Ralph and his virtuosic friends (and Manfred Eicher's production crew at ECM) have created for this album!

A/five stars; a masterpiece of some of the finest, most creative guitar-centered acoustic jazz you are likely to ever hear.