The re-release in 2015 of the original John Abercrombie Quartet’s trio of albums from the 1970s and ’80s whetted my appetite for more of this lyrical guitarist’s music. He obliges with a new release by his current quartet that emphasizes subtle melodic elements and the breath-for-breath interplay between Abercrombie and pianist Marc Copland.
The eight tracks on Up and Coming can be taken as four double-sided singles, commencing with the relatively brief introductory pair: The pensive “Joy” is backed by the joyous “Flipside,” the latter title a tipoff into how to listen to these four pairs of tunes. Flipside itself is a nearly archaic term for the B-side of a single, but it also means “tomorrow” in Beat jargon. I like the way these two pieces are juxtaposed. As “Joy” begins, it foreshadows the entire album, Abercrombie’s guitar and Copland’s piano playing nearly inextricable lines as bassist Drew Gress keeps the beat and drummer Joey Baron embellishes the atmosphere with a running commentary of taps and brushes on his array of cymbals. The flipside is upbeat, melodic, straight-ahead jazz, Abercrombie leading the way with his Wes Montgomery-stye thumb-picking.
Melodic flow is the watchword throughout, and is particularly evident on the next pair, the waltz-time “Sunday School” followed by the title track. Copland leads off with a playful kitten-on-the-keyboard intro to “Sunday School,” which also contains a nice bass solo chorus by Gress. Lots of nice guitar-piano duet play highlights the title track.
The next pair showcases Copland’s compositions, the elegiac “Tears” (amazing brushwork from Baron!) and the less somber “Silver Circle,” with plenty of fine lead play by Abercrombie. The date wraps up with a finely textured arrangement of Miles Davis’s “Nardis” and the sparkling “Jumbles,” with a complex melodic line from Abercrombie and Baron’s most insistent playing of this date. The entire rhythm section’s locked-in support of the leader is exemplary throughout, but especially evident here.
The Abercrombie Quartet on Up and Coming plays music that is a balm for a troubled soul or a dark day. This is comforting music that nevertheless maintains a sense of continuous motion, the pairings of somber and upbeat tunes adding up to a harmonic and balanced whole.
(ECM, 2017)
