Homecoming CD

The Gateway trio first recorded for ECM back in 1975. At the time, drummer Jack DeJohnette and bassist Dave Holland were already an established force, and well on their way towards recognition as one of the greatest rhythm teams in the history of jazz. Their work with Miles Davis didn't make anyone forget Ron Carter and Tony Williams, but they created an innovative rhythm style that fit Davis' new approach like a glove. Guitarist John Abercrombie was in the process of synthesizing John McLaughlin, Jim Hall and Jimi Hendrix into a coherent style; and it was his ability to create unfettered melodic variations and rhythmic contrasts, without impeding the boisterous bass-drums dialogue, that made Gateway's music come alive. Twenty years later, Abercrombie is comfortable functioning as either pilot or navigator, and it's his seamless, intuitive brand of invention that makes HOMECOMING Gateway's most far-reaching recital.

Holland's title tune launches this recital with an idiomatic vamp and release, alternating between swing beats and backbeats as only Gateway can. Abercrombie crafts taut little phrases into long, swirling lines and canny rhythmic displacements, allowing the rhythm to surge and merge about him, culminating in distorted outbursts. All the while, Holland's muscular variations inspire his cohorts to respond with quasar-like blips and bleeps.

The remaining eight tunes draw from an equally varied range of improvisational stances. "Waltz New" is an elegant minor cotillion, while "Modern Times" takes a ten-beat cycle and makes it rock. "Calypso Falto" inspires good-natured give and take, even as "Short Cut" plies a traditional brush dance over shifting changes. "How's Never" proceeds from a menacing rock through supple chordal cycles, and "In Your Arms" follows with dreamy long tones and cymbal washes. The closing "7th D" affords the band an opportunity to morph and swing in a free-form manner, while DeJohnette's "Oneness" (with the drummer switching to piano) is pure bucolic mystery.

Recorded at Power Station, New York in December 1994.

Personnel: John Abercrombie (guitar); Jack DeJohnette (piano, drums, snare drum); Dave Holland (double bass).

Recording information: Power Station, NY (12/1994).

Photographer: Allan Titmuss.

Gateway: John Abercrombie (guitar); Jack DeJohnette (piano, drums); Dave Holland (acoustic bass).

Entertainment Weekly (11/10/95, p.67) - "...There's plenty of pensive interplay but also bent wit, rocky, raucous head tripping, and a bit of folkish lyricism. A mighty, triumphant return." - Rating: A
Q (1/96, p.130) - 3 Stars - Good - "...here, a trio makes for a heightening of intensity--nobody is a musical onlooker. A powerful, absorbing album..."
Down Beat (12/95, pp.56-58) - 4 Stars - Very Good - "...Two decades later the trio have reunited and picked up where they left off. HOMECOMING has the shimmer and glow of an all-star recording where the players respond to each other both sympathetically AND sarcastically..."