Search - Gary Peacock :: Shift in the Wind

Art Lande in a trio of quintessential musical invention

jean couture | Quebec city - Canada | 04/30/2002

(5 out of 5 stars)

"THIS brilliant record, first issued on LP in 1980, is a pure delight and a welcome reissue on compact-disc. The natural sounding LP is accurately restored unto the digital format. The group provides canvas of music with complex harmonies and swiftly moving rhythms. The first track, `So Green', is an example of Lande's song writing technique : Here the melody has a kind of urgent beauty, with the fittingly dark tone of the piano streaming amidst some swift percussive murmurs.



Without a doubt, this record is an underappreciated marvel of contemporary acoustic jazz. With simple instrumentation, the trio "gets it" in a quintessential set of musical invention. Musicians are Art Lande (piano), Eliott Zigmund (drums), Gary Peacock (bass).



The bass is prominent, the percussion vibrant and the piano clean-sounding. The recording is rather closely miked and has cavernous, almost church-like acoustics - which is pleasant because the effects are utterly appropriate in view of the compositions. A particular flavor is added by a couple of pieces devoted to musical exploration : `Shift in the Wind' and the ten-minute long `Caverns beneath the Zoth' are grossly representative of the "ECM sound". Here they don't lose track of a well-structured "motivic swing", fusing improvisation into a "predefined" structural form. They merge counter rhythms and lyricism with originality. Gary Peacock's driving bass is just dazzling and reminds me some stuff he had performed with Ralph Towner. 'Shift in the Wind' is a damn good record in its genre and i recommend it warmly.



"Art Lande is considered one of the premiere improvisational jazz pianists today. Pianist, drummer, composer, and teacher, Art began piano at age 4. In 1969 he went to San Francisco where he played with Joe Henderson, Woody Shaw, Bobby Hutcherson, Steve Swallow and Charlie Haden, and formed a group featuring Mark Isham called Rubisa Patrol. In 1973, Art visited Europe and began recording for ECM Records in Germany, eventually making six albums with musicians like Paul McCandless, Jan Garbarek, Dave Samuels and Gary Peacock. Art has written more than 200 compositions for jazz groups, chamber ensembles, voices, big bands and orchestras". *****"

Wonderful trio recording-daydream to it!!

Phasedin | New Jersey | 12/09/2003

(5 out of 5 stars)

"At first glance, this may seem like another jazz piano trio recording, and Lande and Peacock especially have done tons of these in their careers. However the difference here is that the 3 musicians involved compose all of the music and avoid overly-recorded standards or other folks' tunes.
I would also read the previous review for this recording so i'll avoid restating those coments below.
Recorded in Feb 1980 the sound is excellent, it could have been recorded yesterday.
This recording really shows what's special about these guys, and what a line-up! Art Lande is certainly criminally under-appreciated and is certainly the perfect match for Peacock-both come from (and perform in) the more standard jazz tradition but they also have taken that tradition and moved it forward in a lyrical, chamber-ish way that we should have many more musicians working in , but sadly don't. No it's not "free-jazz" or even very experimental, but it just at times for a moment or two skirts along dipping it toes into those waters wonderfully. For listeners with open ears it won't be considered "difficult" at all.
Peacock and, to a lesser extent,Lande record quite a bit, even if their recordings aren't always easily available. However, for all the recording Peacock has done in the last 2 decades, too few of them feature his compositions, which makes this all the more special.
This is certainly in the top 5 "must have" recordings for both Peacock and Lande. Drummer Eliot Zigmund also does a great job here...
If you're as big a fan of these folks, as I am, and are a fan of the upright bass, I also have to recommend Gary Peacock's Dec 1977 solo bass recording "December Poems" which features 2 tracks in duet with Jan Garbarek's saxophone. Try listening to these 2 recordings back to back (as I often do)and you'll appreciate the talents of Mr Peacock and the 4 other musicians who appear on these 2 classic discs.....and get lost in a great world for an hour and a half to boot....."