Eberhard Weber - C or D? + S&D

Magical orchestrator of modern chamber music who was way ahead of his time or pretentious new age doodler?

I'll be back after a few answers to throw my two bits in.

Love him, most of his early to late 70s ECM appearances as well as his untouchable additions to Kate Bush's best albums.
But you have to also love rubbery, melancholic fretless bass playing in order to truly dig the man. Dig?

I haven't heard Eberhard Weber's whole discography, but I liked what I heard of his 70s ECM records. I'd think fans of prog rock or say post-rock like Tortoise or perhaps some certain styles of electronic music would definitely find some music they like on them, if they were unfamiliar with Weber's records. Like most ECM records, the production is really ace.

Eberhard Weber / Eberhard Schoener

― Tommy McTommy (Tom D.), Monday, September 2, 2013 1:59 PM (3 months ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

(From the 'Oh! I Always Get Those Two Mixed Up!' thread)

Ha!

And yes! Good to see some other fans here!

I, for one, love everything I've heard — though that's only five albums and a handful of sideman appearances.

His music does sit rather well in the proggy/Kraut scene — there's just a bit more soloing.

I think for those curious, the song 'T On a White Horse' from The Following Morning is a good litmus test:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9uNHoUKju5o

Really been digging his stuff a lot lately and I always get caught up on the timeline of his albums. I usually swear to myself that he was mostly active in the 80's, but then I go and check the dates on my LPs and all but one are from the mid-70's.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rp5sTJCZ7q8

Just now catching up to Encore from last year. Bunch of short sketches, mostly solo bass, not a lot of soloing. Just really nice themes meditated upon. All the tunes are named after locations, taking twists and turns, as if he's exploring his memories of these places as he plays. Really top stuff.

I decided to go to the start of his discography and slowly work my way through each record, and damn, this is some good listening. I've had The Colours Of Chloe for a long time on CD but never given it more than a cursory listen so it never made much of an impression beyond knowing it was kinda good, but it has been all I really want to listen to now for the last week or two, so beautiful. It might be perfect wintry music.

Starting in on Yellow Fields today, feels good to have all this potentially lush music to wander through.

Colours of Chloe and Yellow Fields are both very classic imo but that's about all I've heard.

anybody read his book yet?

Have not...but this recording just came out a while ago a tribute track written by the late Lyle Mays that is pretty cool. Sonically it is a throw back to both early PMG and to Weber's influence on therein. Pretty nice ambient chamber jazz.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BylqOtOIMdE

Did not I know he wrote a book! Would read.

apparently it's been in print in german only for a few years. first time in print in english:

https://londonjazznews.com/2021/10/04/eberhard-weber-a-german-jazz-story/

GUYS

Have to admit to pretty much writing off his 80s and 90s stuff, mostly because it was hard to find those in stores. There's quite a bit of material there, and listening to Pendulum today, it's occurred to me that I've perhaps been missing out. Not sure if you could say he was more prolific then, but certainly moreso than now (unfortunately).

Anyway, fantastic stuff. Pendulum just about perfect to my ears presently (third listen today). I keep thinking about how his music always seems to be in sync with at least two very different styles, but it all just converges with his songs. Keep hearing little bits that remind me of OutKast beats and Dilla samples.

Eberhard is immediately recognizable on this 1975 album led by German pianist Michael Nauru. It's fucking rad, totally all over the place, and about half of it sounds completely out of place on an ECM session. xpost to ECM: C/D, S&D

oh hell yah thanks

Wow, hadn't heard of that one and I'm really digging it. Sounds pretty close to Gary Burton & Weber's Ring to me (minus the guitar). Also great cover art. Thanks for the rec!

xp Austin you were right about Pendulum; I'm checking it out for the first time and it's beautiful. It occurred to me recently that my favorite Eberhard Weber albums are the ones without drums, in particular The Following Morning and Fluid Rustle, and Pendulum fits right in with those. It's hard to articulate what it is about those albums that resonates with me more than, say, Yellow Fields or Later That Evening (which are also wonderful). Maybe it's that his ultra-distinctive liquid rubber bass sound is better-suited to a drumless sonic palette to my ears. At any rate I love how almost every one of his albums has a different combination of instruments, like each record is a separate, uniquely decorated room in the vast sonic mansion of his discography (forgive the labored metaphor lol)

yes — pendulum rules! if you like sparse eberhard, ecm recently released this vault live recording from 1994 and it's all solo explorations. like you said: he has a very unique articulation in different settings and that's really the vibe on that live recording.

wow, just gave fluid rustle a spin for the first time and that is one special record - perfect gauzy drift - had pretty neutral expectations cos i had never heard anyone particularly praise that one but it is absolutely the kind of thing that i am looking for when I’m out there looking for something, what a wonderful album

Yup, incredible record. The vocals are what push it into magical territory for me.

The title track of Fluid Rustle sounds kind of like the theme music to a public TV cultural commentary show from the 80s or 90s. I'm not sure if it reminds me of the actual theme to a show that's bouncing around in my subconscious or if it just has that general vibe...

It also foreshadows Tortoise by more than a decade

i love fluid rustle. i didn't at first though. one of those albums where i went in expecting one thing and ended up getting something else very different. it definitely has familiar timbres of his music, but it all feels so other, like a bizarro world variant; the vocals play a big part.

perhaps a lazy comparison (i.e. "esoteric vocals = DEFINITE SIMILARITIES!!!") but i have to mention david axelrod's earth rot. overall a much fuller, busier production. still has that presence of being the soundtrack of a bright blue shift to total whiteout. bleak, but comforting.

re theme music vibes - yeah definitely there were a few moments when i felt it had the first generation version of whatever US 80s daytime tv energy that Boards of Canada were drawing from

I see where you're coming from re: the Earth Rot comparison. I've been listening to that one a lot lately too. Both records also make prominent use of literal vibes (the instrument).

Anyone who digs Fluid Rustle and hasn't checked out Azimuth (the group on ECM, not the Brazilian band) should do so ASAP. "Azimuth" the song from their first album is 11 blissed-out minutes of synth loops, trumpet, and wordless vocals from Norma Winstone (one of the singers on Fluid Rustle). Everything they did is worth hearing but that track in particular is one of my absolute favorite ECM things

Colours of Chloe sounding near perfect on this Spring morning

(checks on thread)
https://c.tenor.com/KDK4gjRz9ioAAAAC/tenor.gif

also, damn ― ten years of eberhard on ilm this past december! whooo! thx 4 tha revival eberhard marathon today!

So good

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OwnvZy_UVk8

love it