Customer Reviews

Solstice

5 star:		(11)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

On a wet and rainy October 1976 evening I walked into a Tower Records in Seattle. I immediately took note of the music playing. It was weird, beautiful, mystical, forceful, transcendental all at the same time. I inquired and was told it was Ralph Towner Solstice. I purchased it on Lp. I still have that old Lp as well as the CD. A few months later I got to see Ralph perform duets with John Abercrombie. After the 1st piece there was one perfect moment where you could have heard a pin drop the crowd was so captivated. Towner is one of the greats. Solstice is one of the most played recordings in my collection. Pat Metheny once commented on his website that this was his favorite ECM recording. Pick it up and find out why!

This 1974 release by guitarist Ralph Towner only reaffirms his genius and versatility as a musician/composer.

Teaming up with bassist Eberhard Weber, drummer Jon Christensen and saxophonist Jan Garbarek, Towner took 3 other very highly developed musical personalities on a wild ride with him through dark spooky forests ("Visitation"), vast seas ("Oceanus"), deserts ("Sand") and more. Towner lets forth some beautiful Bill Evans-esque piano musings on "Drifting Petals", and even engages Jan Garbarek in a lively duo on "Winter Solstice". Things even get funky on "Piscean Dance".

Bassist Eberhard Weber adds not only brilliant electric upright bass lines to the proceedings but goes further to add eerie choruses of cellos and bowed bass. Jan Garbarek proves a more than capable foil for Towners full rich guitars and piano with his stark, icy, yet oddly soulful tones on tenor, soprano and flute. One of his best moments is "Nimbus" with its tumbling flutes and stern tenor sax interjections.

"Visitation" gets my vote for spookiest track on an ECM release. This improv piece is VERY effective in conjuring up vivid images of walking through a spooky forest at night, screech owls in full cry and something lurking behind the twisted trees.

All throughout, drummer Jon Christensen provides very flexible and empathetic playing, really listening to what's going on and giving his all without overpowering the other musicians. He shoud definitely get a MVP Award in the ECM stable (as he's appeared on so many ECM discs).

Prepare ye for a mindblowing listening experience!

Solstice is one of Ralph Towner's greatest records. While his early work with Oregon and his previous solo album Diary are very much worth hearing, Solstice took his compositions and arrangements to a new level. Working with Christensen, Garbarek and Weber allowed Towner to create a mood that makes the experience of listening to Solstice truly dramatic. It's a very good sounding recording that shows off Towner's unique 12-string and gut-string guitar styles.

Ralph Towner is one of the greatest exemplars of contemporary music that is lumped into jazz but transcends categorization. Solstice is historically important and very enjoyable.

What a wonderful album - from the opener "Oceanus" which finds Towner and Garbarek at their finest, the album rolls on to new places and evocative soundscapes which have come to epitomise the ECM sound. This is certainly one of Ralph's finest moments on disc, and remains a clear favourite here. Back to back with Blue Sun, this is spiritual, creative and brilliant.

As a younger person I owned quite a few vinyl albums. Amoung them were "Crystal Silence"(Gary Burton-Chick Corea), one of my all time favorite pre-new age jazz albums. I found the reissue of that CD years ago.

But my two most beloved jazz albums; moody, peaceful, emotional satisfying works are definitely "Diary" and "Solstice" by Ralph Towner.

Musically, these are all old friends whom I've never met and I'm glad to encounter once again many years later.

Reading at home alone on a rainy night or driving in the mountains on a snowy day in mid-Winter, this is the music to have.

There are precious few artists whose music is so instantly recognizable, so indelibly stamped with the imprimatur of authenticity, that their work is guaranteed a place in the annals of music history. Ralph Towner is one such artist.

The guitar solos on "Solstice" are pristine in tone and execution, and offer an exquisite view into the imagination of one of our greatest free improvisors. The interplay among the all-star cast of ECM players borders on the telepathic. The music is alternately transcendent, urgent, atmospheric, unpredictable, and beautiful beyond words.

You cannot go wrong with any release bearing Ralph Towner's name. Solstice is a soaring achievement, and ranks among my very favorites of all time.

In 1974 when this cd was recorded, I was a brash confident 21 yr. old. Mildly oblivious to the incredibly adventurous environment in which I breathed and lived, I was, not unlike most twenty-somethings of that decade, under appreciative of the historical significance music of that decade would carry!

Ralph Towner and his cronies did not emerge from the seventies as household names. Indeed, in the United States he was largely unheard! However, from listening to Solstice, I can now see that the music emanating from ECM was music whose significance would outlive much of the popular music of the times. Solstice fits that decription aptly. The music does not date itself. However, I can't remember the last time I listened to a cd recorded in the seventies that does as great a job capturing the spirit of those times. There is a joy and exuberance that comes across on Solstice, owing to the absolute freedom to experiment in the studio musically. Whatever fun and enjoyment was felt by these musicians at the moment of recording spills out into my living room when I put Solstice on. I feel very much a part of the proceedings when listening to the cd.
One musical note I would like to share has to do with the abilities of Jon Christensen (drums). Until this cd, my knowledge of Mr. Christensen extended to his more abstract/avante garde material. Solstice has its' share of that as well. But listen to the opening tune on Solstice (Oceanus) and follow his ride cymbal playing. Of course he has mastered the independence of his four limbs and it is always fun to listen to any jazz drummer for the independence factor. The song is some 10 plus minutes long and this very quick involved ride cymbal pattern never lets up. It is constant and steady and never falters....never! I found it quite impressive as it does not draw attention to itself but one can't help but notice. Being a drummer myself, I can appreciate the technique required to play such a physically demanding part (and we're only talking about his right hand - listen to how he puts the entire song together - uncanny!). The level of musicianship and playing from each member of this unit is flawless.

I highly recommend this cd. Its' appeal will last you til death do you part!
Only one word of warning: if you do not enjoy free playing i.e. avante garde jazz, you may want to avoid the cd altogether! However if you love that kind of playing done correctly, this cd is definitely for you! Very relaxing and meditative to me!

I still vividly remember the rainy evening I walked into a Tower Records store in Seattle and heard this playing. I was held in a sort of mystical rapture for several minutes and then asked the guys at the counter what was playing. That was in 1976 and I was a big King Crimson fan at the time, just getting into the likes of Miles Davis. This was the first of many ECM records I purchased and those familiar with ECM know that Jan Erik Kongshaug's sound engineering is actually a key part of the way the listener perceives the performance. I'm trying to convey that Konghaug is part of the complete work of art. When you hear a Kongshaug recording, you just KNOW it is his work (if you have heard a couple of the releases he's helped create. His contribution is intangible, hard to pin down in words, and yet, it is distinct. It's almost sublime. Every single track on this release is wonderful to behold. I went on a Towner/Oregon buying frenzy because of this one incredible album. Regarding Mr Kongshaug... I hadn't thought of this guy in a long time but as soon as I set out to write this review I immediately recalled his name. Perhaps the greatest recording engineer out there twiddling the knobs and dials. If you already own Solstice then I also recommend Sargasso Sea by Towner and Abercrombie and Dis by Jan Garbarek (Towner is a guest). Those two releases have a similar mood.

Solstice is a perfect recording, it belongs in the same category as Kind of Blue, Giant Steps, A Love Supreme, Out to Lunch, and Blues and the Abstract Truth. It is THAT good.

Ha! I just realized I wrote a review of Solstice a few years back under a different user Id (Pat Metheny's favorite...) See? That's how great this recording is!

Other reviewers have this exactly right: here is a thing of just stunning conception and beauty, one of the best in the whole ECM library. The whole of "Solstice" is so coherent and of-one-mind from beginning to end. Every track is very good to great, ending with "Sand"... a track you can listen to 4 times in a row and still be in awe of. The ensemble of Weber, Christensen, Garbarek and Towner is a sympathetic thing of beauty. As an aside, a neglected but brilliant Ralph Towner release is "5 Years Later", the sequel to Sargasso Sea (and likewise a duo with J. Abercrombie). However it may not exist on CD. Another aside, "Solstice" was poorly recorded in its initial vinyl release (relative to ECM standards), and to my relief the CD is just fine.

One of the most beautiful, intense, mind-blowing, and brilliant recordings
I've ever heard. Like the first reviewer of this (who listed it as Pat
Metheny's favorite), I too saw Towner and John Abercrombie in concert
when they were on tour (in Lexington, Ky), after they had recorded their
gorgeous "Sargasso Sea" duet guitar album on ECM. It was a sold-out show
and a mesmerized audience, much like the show he saw. "Solstice" totally
blew me away the first time I heard it. Never had I heard such incredible
beauty and INTENSITY off of cold vinyl. These were the days when I became
a totally addicted ECM vinyl freak; I could not buy these things fast
enough, and "Solstice" quickly became one of my most played items. These
guys are so brilliant, they're SCARY. Of course, I have the cd now and
am still blown away each time I hear it. Eberhard Weber and Jan Garbarek
are just amazing on this as well. It is absolute perfection and genius.
What is so startling about it is that even though I've heard this thing
hundreds of times (both vinyl and cd), it STILL sounds just as exciting,
fresh, and new as the first time I heard it, and I even hear things I
realize I hadn't heard before. Just magnificent. One previous reviewer
stated that the track "Visitation" is one of the spookiest things ever
recorded on ECM. I agree. as it ALWAYS reminds me of an alien UFO ship
landing on earth. To me, a truly SCARY ECM recording is the track called
"Excursion" from Bennie Maupin's mind-bending "Jewel in the Lotus" album,
recently issued on cd for the first time (ECM). Listen to it with all the
lights out. Wooooo! 100 million stars for "Solstice", and another 500
million for the fantastic ECM label, and its founder/producer Manfred
Eicher.