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Ich schreibe das jetzt mal hier hin – vermutlich ist es @vorgarten bekannt, aber ich bin hier im Forum die letzten Tage mehrmals über Abercrombie und seine „electric mandolin“ gestolpert, die ja eine kleine Gitarre sei. Für das 3-CD-Set „The First Quartet“, das die Alben „Arcade“, „Abercrombie Quartet“ und „M“ (alle mit Richie Beirach, George Mraz und Peter Donald) auf CD vorlegt, hat John Kelman ausführliche Liner Notes geschrieben, in denen Abercrombie ausgiebig zu Wort kommt:
In addition to forming the collective Gateway trio with Jack DeJohnette and bassist Dave Holland (releasing its ECM debut, Gateway, in 1975), and his duo with guitarist/pianist Ralph Towner (first documented on Sargasso Sea, ECM, 1976]), Abercrombie recorded Characters (ECM, 1978) in late 1977, a solo album of multilayered acoustic and electric guitars, plus the electric mandolin guitar that would become his primary instrument for the next few years. „It was really a soprano guitar,“ Abercrombie explains, „tuned an octave higher than a guitar. But Fender originally marketed it as an electric mandolin, tuned in fifths. I was at a jam session where [Mahavishnu Orchestra violinist] Jerry Goodman showed up with one. I thought it sounded so cool; the next day I bought the last one they had at Manny’s, and that became my instrument.“
Und dann kommt in den Liner Notes auch noch Richie Beriach zu Wort und würdigt den Beitrag von Manfred Eicher zu den drei Alben:
With Eicher producing, the quartet became a de facto quintet. Beirach recalls: „If you had a little trouble, Manfred would say, ‚Why don’t you play rubato?‘ – and a lot of the time he was correct. We would do a ballad in time, and it was good but it sounded a bit too much like ‚Blue in Green.‘ Manfred was right; we’d do it in rubato and it would be perfect in one take. Or we’d be doing something a little too fast, and he’d say, ‚Do it slower,‘ or ‚Do it in three.‘ He’d say, ‚Why don’t you play a long intro and do the tune with no piano solo,‘ because it was too long and tunes can’t absorb three long solos unless they’re in three separate formats. So, have an intro and two solos; or have George play a solo intro and have me play an outro.“
Interessant, solche Einblicke – die kriegt man ja nicht allzu oft!
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"Don't play what the public want. You play what you want and let the public pick up on what you doin' -- even if it take them fifteen, twenty years." (Thelonious Monk) | Meine Sendungen auf Radio StoneFM: gypsy goes jazz, #151: Neuheiten aus dem Archiv – 09.04., 22:00 | Slow Drive to South Africa, #8: tba | No Problem Saloon, #30: tba