WHERE WE WERE
My good friend
John Abercrombie is one of the most influential musicians of his
generation. For guitarists, he represents the link between Jim Hall
and Pat Metheny/John Scofield/Bill Frisell. But his influence
reaches far beyond guitarists, to all musicians. I know, because I’m
one of the musicians he’s influenced. Ever since we first met in
Boston in the latter half of the 1960’s, I’ve thought of John’s playing as
innovative, creative, and cutting edge. In our very first playing
experiences together, John played electric bass as well as guitar, both
with a heavy groove. Our common admiration of the Bill Evans/Jim
Hall piano/guitar duo prompted our own experiments with the piano/guitar
duo.
Although my playing was still in a rather
formative stage, I can remember clearly that those first duo sessions felt
natural and comfortable. I knew then that this was a setting I
wanted to continue playing in. When John moved to NYC in the early
1970’s, I visited and sat in on some of the early “loft” sessions, where I
met people such as Mike and Randy Brecker, Dave Liebman, Marc Copland, Jan
Hammer and Richie Beirach. Hearing and playing with these musicians
convinced me to once again follow John’s lead and move back to NYC (my
“hometown”).
Soon both John
and I were out on the road in different bands. When we got back to town,
we’d “check in”, and play through some new music together. Our first
duo gig was in 1975 at Sweet Basil, which had recently opened. In
1978 we did our first recording together, on a project produced by Stan
Getz for Columbia, which unfortunately was never released. Since
then, many more gig and recording opportunities followed, and the duo was
established as an ongoing venture.
It’s hard to
call two people a band, but I think of this duo as a special kind of band,
one which has a deep level of interplay, yet can groove as hard as any
with a full rhythm section. That in no small part is due to John’s
ability to play bass lines and comp chords simultaneously, a skill
developed from his early electric bass playing days. As for my
comping behind John’s solos, I approach that in several ways. My
main objective is to provide a lush harmonic foundation for John to play
over. I also like to provide a strong bass function, but not as in a
walking bass line. Rather, I use octaves, fifths, and pedal points
in the piano’s bass register. I can also comp as if playing with a
full rhythm section, and let the rhythmic momentum of John’s lines propel
the ”band”. I solo in the duo many ways; right hand only single note
lines, and with left rooted or rootless voicings, chordal (both “locked
hands” and quartal), and freer, i.e. impressionistic full keyboard sweeps
and textures. Basically, the duo provides a platform for me to play
anything from solo piano to ensemble functions, with a rhythmic concept
ranging from elastic time to outright swing.
Our repertoire
has always consisted of three basic elements: standards (usually
reharmonized), originals (both mine & John’s), and tunes recorded by
Bill & Jim. This recording is no exception, as each of the
categories is well represented. Although we’ve never written a tune
together, we have collaborated on occasion. A few years ago John
showed me a reharmonization of “All The Things You Are” he had begun
working on. He had finished the first sixteen bars, I found it so
compelling that I completed it. That was the impetus for a long line
of reharmonizations, which has become somewhat of a personal
trademark. On this project, we have another collaboration of sorts -
“Where We Were”, music by John Abercrombie, title by Andy LaVerne!
A recording
session typically consists of multiple takes of each tune, but this being
a live concert recording, multiple takes was not an option. However,
our challenge in putting this recording together was not to find enough
material from the concert, but to choose which tunes not to include so as
to meet the time constraints of the CD. I think the program
represents a good cross section of our material, with careful
consideration given to a well balanced presentation of the two
instruments. This CD truly represents “Where We Were”, both on the
night of April 1st in Louisville, and in the years of playing together
before that. Now, thanks to Jamey D. Aebersold and Double-Time Records,
you too are “Where We Were”.
Andy Laverne
May, 1996
Playing in a
duo is extremely challenging and at the same time offers certain freedoms
that larger groups can not afford.
I guess that I have always
been partial to duos and trios for most of my groups, probably because of
the amount of actual playing time that is involved, (call it selfish, or
just being a guitar player!).
Over the years
I have played and recorded in different duo settings; Ralph Towner, John
Scofield, Don Thompson and Jack DeJohnette, but the most ongoing duo is
definitely with my longtime friend and partner in crime, Andy LaVerne.
We go way
back. Back to the 60's, back to Boston, back to lots and lots of hair! I
can't actually remember when we first played together, but I'm pretty sure
that I was playing electric bass, an instrument I played to support my
guitar habit.
We immediately became friends and
discovered that we both shared a passion for the duo recordings of Bill
Evans and Jim Hall.
Until the
Evans - Hall recordings, most of the music I listened to was of larger
bands, trios, quartets, etc. Although there were several trios with guitar
- piano - bass (Oscar Peterson, Nat King Cole), to the best of my
knowledge this was the only pure duo. The influence of those records on
myself and Andy was, and still is, a profound one. It was the inspiration
for our work together and I know that it has been a foundation for my own
personal music. We still play some of the same tunes that they did.
The duo is
like a band. It can play ballads, waltzes of which I am particularly fond,
it can be playful and thematic or it can just burn! We do everything that
a band does but with out the bass and drums. It requires more
responsibility for myself and Andy, and also a sense of trust and a real
good sense of time. We have to have that trust and time so that we can
play freely and not feel the need to fill all gaps, which can happen
without the rhythm section to lean on.
Where We Were
is our first live recording and represents what we did on April 1st in
Louisville, KY. Maybe this will inspire a few more duos. I know it
will inspire us to keep on going for some time now.
John
Abercrombie, May 96
