[.ca] Colours Of Chloe

a revolutionary CD and an anecdote:
This was Weber's first ECM album. It was revolutionary because it combined classical or Third Stream elements with fusion, something that hadn't been ecplored previously. The result is a whole new tonal pallette that since then has been explored by a number of ECM artists such as Egberto Gismonti and countless others. This is the record that started it all, and for the most part it has weathered time well. Not so for the long final piece, No Motion Picture, which was always my least favorite and now sounds dated to my ears. Still, "side 1" is worth the price of admission and hopefully will lead the listener to some of Mr Webers' other neglected gems such as Fluid Rustle (one of Pat Metheny's favorite albums,) and the Following morning to name a couple. These are masterful examples of Weber's ability to straddle the classical minimalist and jazz genres with spectacular results. Get them all!! Bonus anecdote: I had the pleasure of meeting Mr Weber when he was on tour with Jan Garbarek in 1987. Because of a mixup with transportation to the Russian River jazz festival in Guerneville CA ,my friend had the honor of picking them up at the airport and delivering them to their hotel after the gig. We hung out by the pool, and for the most part i listened in rapt attention to my heroes as they traded stories, or sat in cool eurpean silence while sipping strong coffee by the pool. As the hotel they were staying at had a reputation for car breakins, I drove my friend's van back to my little cottage in the country and parked it in my space in the garage. It was surreal. Sitting parked in my space were Jan Garbarek's sax and Eberhard weber's magical 5 string bass! I couldn't resit it. I opened the van and reverently carried the bass into my little house. Gingerly I laid it on the floor of my studio. Just one look, I thought but alas; the case was locked. Still, I can say with all certainty that Eberhard weber's bass slept in my house.

Still Available!:
Thanks to David Starns for his excellent reviews. He, and others, may like to know that ECM claim to keep all titles in print, in Munchen at least. I ordered this title in the UK recently, and, of course, amazon still list it in the US - so hopefully it can now found there! The album is really excellent. Although nominally obscure, Weber's talent has been heard in the mainstream, as he did session work with Kate Bush in the \oi think!\c eighties. Check it out!

• More Colours
• Colours of Chloë
• Evening With Vincent Van Ritz
• No Motion Picture