Search - John Abercrombie, Eddie Gomez, Gene Jackson :: Structures

BACK TO A TRIO...AND ABOUT TIME

S. Henderson | Hazlet, New Jersey USA | 01/29/2007

(5 out of 5 stars)

"I was overjoyed to see that Abercrombie was reunited with Gomez (they were integral to DeJohnette's mid-70's New Directions) in this trio format which I prefer much more to his recent releases. While he's made nice contributions to some of Charles Lloyd's late sessions, I was mildly turned off to his violin adventure with Marc Feldman and so this is a welcome return to traditional guitar, bass and drums. Not as muscular as the Gateway albums but the recording is extraordinary and the selections beautiful. This one can stay in my CD changer."

Trio In The Evans Mode

Gordon Danis | Eastchester, New York United States | 01/29/2008

(5 out of 5 stars)

"Instead of the fusion influenced "Gateway" trios serving as a comparison to this smooth, SACD performance, the famous trios of Bill Evans should be a guide (and as pointed out, bassist Eddie Gomez played for several years with Evans.) Each of the musicians has bought into the "less is more" approach, particularly Abercrombie and Gomez, who can both be overly voluble in different contexts. The SACD format highlights the sound of the instruments themselves in this analog-quality recording-it's a damn shame that SACD plants such as Sony's are closing in this i-Pod era, as quality of sound is eschewed for merely having a small delivery device. But at least this recording will serve as a standard of what a guitar trio should sound like. It's hard to believe this was a "pick-up" gig and not a long-time, working unit, as the rapport between the players is tremendous"