By Josef Woodard | Published February 2022
ECM records has, in recent years, championed the cause of solo bass albums as a noble sidebar effort, releasing memorable solo outings by Barre Phillips, Larry Grenadier and Marc Johnson. Enter another worthy legend into the club, veteran German bassist Eberhard Weber. An early pillar of the ECM roster, Weber has been an absent presence in jazz, due to a debilitating 2007 stroke, but beautifully represents on this archival jewel, originally recorded live in Avignon, France, in 1994, at Philips’ Festival International de Contrebass.
With his customized five-string electro-acoustic bass, Weber blends his classically tinged approach with jazz-encoded flurries and atmospherics enhanced by arco playing and ethereal harmonics. He sometimes thickens the sonic-contextual plot with added bass voices via looping. While the album generally serves as a kind of period-piece discovery from the vaults, the inherently history-encoded timbres of Weber’s bass translate well to the discerning modern ear. Things do occasionally sound moldy, as with the thump-and-slap workout of “Ready Out There.”
As typified by his classic 1970s work — albums such as Colors Of Chloë, for instance — Weber conjures up lyrical atmospheres and with a special painterly touch. He favors evocative thematic brush strokes over conventional theme and development melodic designs, as heard on the opening “Pendulum,” “Delirium” and the closing sigh of “Air.” In all, Once Upon A Time conveys the special, virtuosic, lyrical and abidingly musical voice that has made Weber a signature bassist in his and our time.
Once Upon A Time–Live In Avignon: Pendulum; Trio For Bassoon And Bass; Ready Out There; Silent For A While; Delirium; My Favorite Things; Air. (48:39)
Personnel: Eberhard Weber, bass.
Ordering Info: ecmrecords.com
