Music Review: Arild Andersen, Tommy Smith, Scottish National Jazz Orchestra - Celebration

In October 2010, a very lucky audience was privileged to hear a concert commemorating some of the amazing music released by the ECM label over the past 40 years. There have been a number of significant events associated with this milestone, and Celebration is one of the finest. Manfred Eicher’s vision to release music of the highest quality, and to release it with an attention to detail unmatched in the industry is a truly one of a kind story. Only a handful of former “indies” have made it this far, and none of them have retained their founder’s personal vision quite the way ECM has.

For this concert, Arild Andersen is lead soloist, and his double-bass playing is a marvel. He is joined by the tenor sax of Tommy Smith, who also directed the Scottish National Jazz Orchestra. The Stevenson Hall at the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland is where the event took place, and the sound is magnificent.

Six compositions by six musicians who have been integral to the history of ECM were chosen for the program. It is certainly hard to argue with the importance of Dave Holland, Jan Garbarek, Chick Corea, Trygve Seim, Keith Jarrett, and Arild Andersen himself to the history of not only the label, but to jazz itself. Listening to this concert, one is reminded of just how much Mr. Eicher and his label opened up the genre over the years.

In 1969, “jazz” meant either trying to “outdo” the powerful redefinition of the boundaries, ala John Coltrane’s successors. The other side was fusion, which was being created by Miles Davis and others. There were also the “traditional” outfits, who playing what we now call the “nostalgia circuit,” allowing their fans to relive the glory days of swing.

ECM brought a whole new sensibility to the music. Manfred Eicher’s ears were wide open, and he heard a whole new form of music. The music released on ECM proved to be a very viable product in the marketplace. Yet, while sales are obviously a consideration, the label has never seemed to be focused on them. Manfred Eicher has taken chance after chance on artists that he obviously saw something in, “commercial” or not.

Article Author: Greg Barbrick

Greg Barbrick is a Seattle native who was first published in 1988, in his hometown music magazine, The Rocket. Since then his work has appeared in print and online for numerous sources. He Googles himself so often that his mother told him it would make him go blind.
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