Quite a few years back I had a discussion with a close friend about a certain 'famous' musician. I say 'famous' because the musician's name has been dropped from both of our memories (no doubt deposited behind the "memory sofa", where your head tosses once 'important' bits of information, like synaptic lost socks). That's OK though, as the truly important part of the conversation had to do with how the musician (a guitarist, that much I do remember) felt about his play when it approached the highest level: at the point where it seemed like the music, not the player, was in control. When that magic point was achieved, he said that his hands felt "like water". Like water...an interesting concept. One that has stuck with me for well over a decade.
Now, of course I have no idea if John Abercrombie has ever thought of his hands as feeling like water. But I'm sure that musicians of his caliber have made frequent visits to 'The Zone'. When listening to jazz/improvised music I sometimes wonder how the players arrived at that destination. Were they just riding on top of the predefined set of chord changes? Were they listening intently and improvising off of a particular instrument? Is it a collective improvisation? All of the above? These questions can be applied to little bits of a tune as well as the entire composition.
So...as I'm listening to John Abercrombie's Class Trip the questions begin to form. A great example of what sounds like "all of the above" comes during the pensive "Risky Business". The introduction features Abercrombie laying out a simple chord solo to which Mark Feldman adds a gorgeous melody on violin. Like a musical holograph, the verse materializes as Mark Johnson's bass and Joey Baron's cymbals complete the rest of the 'structure'. Obviously, this tune is built on a set of chord changes, but it's heavily decorated by a continuous undercurrent of subtle improvisation.
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