Friday, February 17, 2012

AccuRadio Song Of The Day-Jack DeJohnette

Artist:Jack DeJohnette
Song:One For Eric
Album:Special Edirion





Drummer Jack DeJohnette is one of the all time jazz greats. He is best known for his albums on the German label ECM including this 1979 CD Special Edition. He was born Aug. 9, 1942 in Chicago. He took piano lessons as a child and got interested in jazz as a teen. Ahmad Jamal was a big influence. He switched to drums in his late teens and backed up John Coltrane when he came to Chicago. He moved to New York in 1966 and got his big break as a member of Charles Lloyd's band. Keith Jarrett was also in that band. DeJohnnette appeared on a Bill Evans live recording in 1968. He recorded his first solo album The DeJohnette Complex on Milestone Records in 1969. But at the same time, he replaced Tony Williams in the Miles Davis band and played on the groundbreaking recording Bitches Brew. When he left Davis in 1972, DeJohnette took a detour into jazz rock territory with Compost along with Bob Moses and Harold Vick. They recorded two unsuccessful albums for Columbia. I saw Compost at the Colonial Tavern in Toronto. They were a good band but weren't commercial enough. Then DeJohnette formed Directions with guitarist John Abercrombie. Those two guys have recorded together a lot. Abercrombie was already on ECM Records. So naturally DeJohnette joined the label too. One For Eric is from the 1979 album Special Edition with David Murray on tenor sax, Arthur Blythe on alto sax and Peter Warren on bass. It's a classic jazz album and was released on CD in 2008 as part of the ECM Touchstone series. Since the 80s, DeJohnette has been a member of Keith Jarrett's Standards with bassist Gary Peacock. Since 2003, he has been part of Trio Beyond with John Scofield and Larry Goldings. He has also toured with Bruce Hornsby and his current band The Jack DeJohnette Group includes Rudresh Maranthappa on sax, David Fiuczynski on guitar, George Colligan on keyboards and Jerome Harris on bass. So Jack DeJohnette is turning 70 this year but doesn't appear to be slowing down. Here's Jack DeJohnette with Howard Johnson on tuba and baritone sax, David Murray on tenor sax, John Purcell on alto sax and Rufus Reid on bass performing One For Eric Warsaw, Poland 1983.

1 comment: