Wednesday, September 19, 2018

John Abercrombie - Open Land: Meeting John Abercrombie (ECM RECORDS 2018)


An intimate portrait of a great guitarist, filmed near the end of his musical journey. Here we see John Abercrombie gigging with Gary Versace and Adam Nussbaum in Lichtenstein, jamming with Rob Sheps, Eliot Zigmund and David Kingsnorth in New York, teaching music students at Purchase College, talking guitars with NYC luthier Ric McCurdy, and hanging out at home with wife Lisa and Al the cat. Along the way John reflects, with characteristic good humor, on a creative life lived outside the mainstream and traces his story from his first encounter with an electric guitar onwards. Subtly combining and contrasting images and sound, director Arno Oehri achieves a fine balance between music passages and interviews. The film’s soundtrack includes, in addition to the live performances, selections from many of John Abercrombie’s ECM recordings.

Adam Nussbaum
Gary Versace

1 SAD SONG - NYC (John Abercrombie)
2 FIRST GUITARS (John Abercrombie)
3 NEW MCCURDY GUITAR (John Abercrombie)
4 CHILDHOOD (John Abercrombie)
5 WITHIN A SONG - GREENWICH (John Abercrombie)
6 FIRST STEPS INTO JAZZ (John Abercrombie)
7 BANSHEE - FLIGHT TO EUROPE (John Abercrombie)
8 ADAM NUSSBAUM - GARY VERSACE (John Abercrombie)
9 ANOTHER RALPH'S - JAZZTAGE TANGENTE 2014 (John Abercrombie)
10 BOSTON YEARS (John Abercrombie)
11 39 STEPS (John Abercrombie)
12 FIRST RECORDING (John Abercrombie)
13 WORK WITH ECM (John Abercrombie)
14 LISA (John Abercrombie)
15 CLASS TRIP - HOME (John Abercrombie)
16 THE FIRE (John Abercrombie)
17 JAM SESSION (John Abercrombie)
18 PLAYING & COMPOSING (John Abercrombie)
19 TIMELESS (John Abercrombie)
20 CREDITS (John Abercrombie)