minimalist Archives - JAZZ IMPRESSIONS

John Abercrombie – Timeless

‘Changeless’ and ‘endless’ were the defining terms of our last post on virtuoso pianist Keith Jarrett. Continuing this theme, we follow with ‘Timeless’, the beautiful final track on guitarist John Abercrombie’s 1975 album of the same name, which like Jarrett’s Changeless, was also released on ECM and featured Jack DeJohnette on drums.

The Keith Jarrett Trio – Endless

Here’s a fun musical connection: the pianist Keith Jarrett sued Steely Dan over similarities between ‘Gaucho’ (1980) and his track ‘Long As You Know You’re Living Yours’ from the album Belonging (1974). Walter Becker and Donald Fagen acknowledged the influence and officially credited Jarrett, admitting: “Hell, we steal. We’re the robber barons of rock ‘n’ roll.”

Pete La Roca – Lazy Afternoon

One of the many attractive qualities of jazz, more than any other musical genre, is how the same song can be interpreted in many different ways. Whether this is Bill Evans and Yusef Lateef offering their personal takes on a classic soundtrack, or Ahmad Jamal and Bobby Hutcherson reworking a Herbie Hancock original, the musical freedom that underpins jazz allows its musicians to constantly reinvent and offer fresh perspectives on popular classics. In his last post, Dan wrote on guitarist Grant Green’s version of the ballad ‘Lazy Afternoon’. Whilst Green’s version is excellent, the definitive version in my opinion of this well known standard is found on drummer Pete La Roca’s album Basra, released in 1965 on Blue Note.