Choosing albums like this, Michael, always changes through out the years, but I´ve tried to choose three albums being important at an early formative stage for me, revolutionary in discovering the values of playing together, shaping forms and curves as an ensemble and playing in ways that open my musical mind at an early stage while trying to decipher the abstracts of music, chords, tones, sounds, timbre, dynamics etc both in bands and at the bass.
Keith Jarrett, Jan Garbarek, Jon Christensen, Palle Danielsson: „Personal Mountains“ – Wonderful musicianship, fantastic forms, dynamics, curves, pulses, playfulness, abstract transitions, lyrical passages, so (a)live, strong songs, improvisation, presence, conversation between musicians. Wish I was there. Formative for me in many ways as a musician.
J.S. Bach „Goldberg Variations“ Glenn Gould – Bach has a relaxing effect and these pieces are fully shaped and contrast each other even though the musical language is very Bach, very perfect, diatonic but so clear and cleansing. And the performance from Gould! Just so crystal clear, taking the music into his own possession, forming it, forcing t into his own way of shaping it. So his.
Weather Report „Black Market“ – Weather Report was an important change for me when I started to play the bass. I started listening to rockmusic and the first jazzalbums were more traditional bebop and early jazz. Great music and mindblowing at the time! But when I heard Weather Report and Jaco, (also Alphonso Johnson and Miroslav Vitous), the bass had such a different role in the band. Playing the melody, affecting the whole sound of the pieces, playing an orchestral affecting part, not only in the bottom register atking care of the bassnotes. And their music was just so different affecting my way of listening and hearing tunes and compositions.
(these notes of Mats Eilertsen go some way / years back. He may make some different choices today. I‘ve experienced his bass playing so often at Punkt, and yesterday he was again there, and, „in the zone“ as being part of The Nils Økland Band. m.e. His new album will probably be part of my penultimate edition of „Klanghorizonte“ and the jazz magazine radio hour on November 4)