Jazz- rock continued
to satisfy the youthful public well into the eighties, despite the fact
that admirers, the press and even the musicians wearied of it. At the
end of seventies, John McLaughlin and several others returned to the
virtues of the acoustic guitar.
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| John McLaughlin on acoustic guitar |
Instrumental stereotypes and the
somewhat vain virtuosity of jazz-rock guitar players were specifically
called into question. The reaction came from the musicians themselves.
An airier tone, a more limpid melody, a lighter orchestral context -
these qualities were sought after as musicians listened to their elders:
Wes Montgomery, Jim Hall and Bill Evans. But they wanted to mix their
own culture - pop songs and country music- in with this. Guitar players
John Abercrombie and Pat Metheny found the space their aspirations
required at the record label ECM.
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| Wes Montgomery |
ECM Aesthetics
'Editions of Contemporary
Music' : the identity crisis of jazz at the time was captured in the
very name of this label, which did not even dare to name the music it
presented. German Manfred Eicher, a former bassist, established ECM in
1969. He was first noticed for seeking to capture a sound reminiscent of
the acoustics of a concert hall rather than that of smoky club. The
technical enhancements ECM employed - precision of the stereo sound and
reconstitution of the echo, and the crystal-clear renderings of
instruments such as the piano, the vibraphone, and the electric and
acoustic guitars - displeased old discophiles but responded to what
young public concerned with a certain ease in listening (even at the
expense of authenticity) was waiting for.
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| John Abercrombie |
|
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| Pat Metheny |
Later generations,
disappointed by the crumbling of revolutionary ideologies and the
exhaustion of the avant-garde, have focused on defending the environment
and reviving the classics. ECM and the innumerable labels that fell
in step with it suggested a new 'ecology' of recording and concert
giving. The return to the acoustic piano was magnified by the solo
formula, until that point still fairly exceptional in modern jazz.
Solos by Keith Jarret or Paul Bley and duets by Chick Corea with Herbie
Hancock or Gary Burton publicized a chamber music. The jazz musicians
now became a concert artist, and jazz concert benefited by being
listened to as seriously as recitals of classical music.
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| Paul Bley |
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| Gary Burton |
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