Customer Reviews

Batik

5 star:		(4)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Towner says that 'Batik' is his worst-selling album. Chalk it up to the dreary LP cover art, because it can't be the music. 'Batik' gives Towner the chance to play with a dream-team rhythm section of Bill Evans alumni, Eddie Gomez and Jack DeJohnette. You couldn't ask for more sensitive, articulate, swinging accompaniment, and Towner is at a compositional and performing peak here. This music is profound, reflective, deeply mysterious; but it's also vigorous and sparking with ensemble brilliance. Towner has covered Waterwheels several times with Oregon, but never with as haunted a quality as here. Trellis is a gorgeous, dark melody, classic Towner, never played again. And Green Room is where Bill Evans might have gotten to if he'd lived another twenty years, the sublime delicacy and gravity fused with a more "outside" sensibility. I can't say enough about this album. It's too bad the sales figures seem to have dissuaded Manfred Eicher from an affordable domestic release -- but this is worth it.

There are not sufficient words to describe the ECM recording, Batik by the great guitarist/pianist and composer Ralph Towner along with his cohorts Eddie Gomez and Jack DeJohnette. This unusual music speaks like all great music, beyond our linguistic boundaries. Anyone who has experienced the great flow of jazz music from the the 1960's and 70's before the breakdown of jazz into stylized historicisms will understand the profundity of this recording. Ralph Towner, who artistically managed to find his personal voice within the worlds of modern european classical music, modern jazz and non-western music of sorts, recorded a masterpiece of improvised music with Batik. The flow of energy and the great precision with which he plays along with his legendary partners, is extraordinary. This collection of music is probably identified correctly as Towner's most 'jazz' recording. For newcomer listeners to jazz, it should be noted that Towner comes from a period in jazz when the music was fully expanding and had not the cultural and economic restraints which characterize much of the popular output of jazz recordings at this writing.
The music on Batik is truly a heavenly experience of great composition - like no other, great playing, and the kind of communication among the musicians only heard in the likes of the Bill Evans trio of the early 1960's and of the great Miles Davis band of the same period. This music though, is truly original in concept and in sound, and yet strangely enough, no school of playing seems to have come from it. It stands alone. I highly reccommend the recording for all thoughtful listeners who desire music played with a sense of mystery, an unidentifiable unity of message and superb musicianship. It is truly a work of art in jazz and improvised music.

I bought this album on vinyl when it first came out(recorded Jan. 1978). The passion that Ralph emits from the undulating melodies on this album seems to seep into Eddie and Jack. Jack Dejohnette is able to hold together some of the most delicate jazz string work I've heard. Eddie's flowing bow work on this album was a welcomed contrast to the labored plucking he was doing with Chick Corea in this era. This album proves that Mr. Gomez's calling was not in trying to compete with Stanley Clarke's acoustic speed bass.
I enjoy real jazz such as this. Ralph apparently learned composition from Miles. Where a simple melody and structure are enough for the best musicians to walk into a studio and improvise perfection.
The melodies of Waterwheel and Batik stuck in my head for many years of not having a working turntable. If I didnt have one now I would pay the import price for this CD just to enjoy these songs again.

The reviews posted here are articulate and compelling. I can add little along general lines, so I'll be specific. The opening track is one of the best things Towner has ever done. "Waterwheel" is a hypnotic chant delivered by Towner, Gomez and DeJohnette in one of RT's favorite odd meters (11/8). It has a powerful "take you away" energy that will inspire you to see distant and beautiful landscapes of the sort made famous by the ECM jacket art. Simply Transcendent.

Musically, this is not my favorite Towner album: "Solo Concert" and "Diary", are still, IMHO, better. Agreed, Waterwheel and Trellis are great tracks. But why on earth is a single CD with ~45 minutes of music so expensive? I understand it's an export (from Germany), but I had been under the impression that we had pretty much licked that whole trans-Atlantic shipping thing. Is ECM limited to smuggling discs into the U.S. via Manfred Eicher's suitcase? If I thought Towner, Gomez, and DeJohnette were getting $30 off the top, I would have no problem with the high price, but I doubt that's the case.

This 1978 album from Ralph Towner is another one of his gems. Apart from his solo outputs that generally I always prefer to his more orchestrated albums, I think this one surely ranks among his best. And you can imagine it just reading the line up. Ralph with Eddie Gomez and Jack DeJonehette. A dream team in deep jazz field. What can I say that previous reviewer didn't tell you already? I will say almost nothing about the music because if you are reading this I think you surely know what kind of music we're talking about. ECM Towner's jazz. You simply have to know it is a GREAT album. But talking about the experience you are about to live putting this disc in your player ... I mean, it's a very intense music experience. These ECM albums when they are great as this one are really trips. You can seat in front of your system (hoping it's a good one) and fly away with your mind. The music is so trascendent, so spiritualistic that takes you to another place, lets you think and dream. The opener Waterwheel is a modal tune with a fantastic rhythmn work provided by DeJonehette. Than the album goes on with a more intimistic atmosphere, each tune directly connected with the one that precedeed it. Even the 16 minutes long tune Batik does not have weak moments. I can suggest this album to you Towner's listeners if yo don' own this one already. I know this album costs a lot outside Europe (but even in Europe is not cheap at all ... is this the reason why this album is the less sold among Ralph's discography?). But think about it. Beautiful things always costs a lot of money. Take it this way ... but don't let this one pass by.

3 1/2

A few epic, tightly wound tracks overshadow the other minor-key experimentations on this bewitching session of angular, acoustic guitar-driven jazz. Some of the uptempo interplay between guitar and drums is nothing short of fascinating (Waterwheel almost sounds like a direct Mice Parade influence), but there are also long segments that drift off into intellectual rambling.