EBERHARD WEBER

This album was released in 1969 and it has no title, but it is commonly referred to as the "Fur" album. Simply because the first word at the top of the album cover is "Fur", which is German for "For", and that is followed with a long list of names that the album is dedicated to. And no band name either, as they just went with the names of the four musicians. And who are these musicians you ask. Well, Wolfgang Dauner is the leader here, composing all but one track. He plays keyboards mostly but adds a little trombone and violin. His buddy Eberhard Weber is here on bass and cello. Both would be a part of ET CETERA, a band who released their debut in 1971.

And the drummer here is Fred Braceful who was also part of ET CETETRA, and later he would also be in EX MAGMA. The unknown for me was Jurgen Karg also playing bass. In fact on one track both he and Weber play bass. What fascinates me is that the only track on here that Dauner didn't compose was that third song called "Karg", which of course was a Karg composition. Fascinating because it's the only electronic piece on here. And Karg would drop his bass not long after this 1969 recording to focus on electronics, and becoming quite influential with his only solo release in 1978.

These four guys had already played together on Dauner's 1967 solo album called "Free Action" which was a Free Jazz record. It's also interesting to me that half of this band which included Braceful and Weber, would make an album in 1971 called "The Call". Karg and Dauner were replaced by two keyboardists, not needing two bass players this time. Again they went with their names as the band name, and we get Mal Waldron, a legendary electric piano player in the Jazz world leading the way. And speaking of legendary how about Jimmy Jackson from Pennsylvania on organ. And this is a straight-up jazz fusion album I gave 4.5 stars to. An incredible album! Jimmy has played in bands like AMON DUUL II, EMBRYO, PASSPORT and more.

Now I have to say that "Fur" is a tough one for me. Very experimental with lots of improvisation going on. It's like an extension of Dauner's 1967 record which was Free Jazz, and with a dedicated sax and clarinet player. It's interesting that that album has two drummers playing on it. Besides Braceful we get the future GURU GURU drummer Mani Neumeier doing his thing. And also Jean-Luc Ponty on violin! All playing Free jazz. Anyway, back to this 1969 album which is not for the faint of heart. Not much in the way of melody or even structure here. This is a very experimental album that one would probably want to keep in their Avant section. I wish "The Call" was on this site. They added "Fur" to Weber's discography thankfully.

Eberhard Weber's father was a classically trained cellist, making a living that way. He started to teach his son Eberhard how to play the cello at six years of age, but much later when the high school band needed a bass player, he took up that instrument as a teenager. The man has absolute command of these two instruments, and he went as far as customizing his bass to be both acoustic and electric. You guys know I love the connections that musicians have with each other, and with Eberhard I always connect him with Wolfgang Dauner. They formed ET CETERA in the mid sixties, and by the time Weber released "The Colours Of Chloe", his first for the ECM label, ten years had passed.

The lineup on this album is a testimony to Weber's talent and influence. Another musician besides Dauner who has been with Eberhard a lot, is keyboardist Rainer Bruninghaus. Before I get to him I also want to mention Jan Garbarek who took Weber under his wing and he has been like Weber's boss for decades(haha). But Bruninghaus on keyboards is huge. He was part of the Kraut/Jazz band called EILIFF who released two adventerous albums in the early seventies. This band had two very serious musicians in Rainer and guitarist Houschang Nejadepour.

We get drummer Peter Giger who I know from DRUM CIRCUS. We also get the SUDFUNK SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA which consists of cellos. A female choir singer, and how about Ack Van Rooyen on flugelhorn! The man was part of the UNITED JAZZ + ROCK ENSEMBLE in the second half of the seventies that Eberhard would be part of along with Dauner, and a bunch of legends really. And while this record has ECM written all over it, this is so much more than that. This album crosses some lines in my opinion when it comes to that label. And because Eberhard dared to let his hair down, sort to speak, we get my favourite solo album right here, from this talented man.

At this point I also want to mention an album called "The Call" from 1969 that Weber was part of with Freddie Braceful, Mal Waldron and Jimmy Jackson, which I like more than "The Colours Of Chloe". Eberhard's wife Maja did the cover art here by the way. So we get four tracks worth 40 minutes. The shorter pieces are more in line with the ECM sounds for the most part but that 20 minute side long suite is a statement. I just find this recording to be so brilliant the way he has it all set up.

The symphony orchestra is almost distant sounding much of the time, creating a layer, atmosphere if you will. The female vocalist with the wordless singing is such a highlight. Then Rainer on keys adds so much. The electronics, the electric piano, along with the more sedate ECM sounds of acoustic piano, reveal the two sides of this album. This is far more adventerous than most stuff I've heard on this record label besides Terje Rydal.

So after the first two tracks "More Colours" and "The Colours Of Chloe" which are very ECM sounding we get "An Evening With Vincent van Ritz". The final track of side one is where they break out of the sedate with electric piano and flugelhorn bringing Fusion to mind. Orchestral sounds and female vocals too. "No Motion Picture" at 20 minutes has repeated themes, and how about the electronics raining down at times. That bass is in your face here as well. There's that celestial atmosphere 13 minutes in then back to repeated themes.

This is an absolute classic that I feel breaks some rules along the way, which doesn't surprise me with Eberhard Weber at the controls.

The musical content of this dull looking compilation is a great delight to a listener who appreciates the European chamber jazz of the ECM label. The long artist bio here is very detailed and well written, but I'll start by giving some basic information anyway: German double bass maestro Eberhard Weber is among ECM's key artists. In his recording career starting from the early 70's Weber has been both the leader -- sometimes even the sole musician --and a collaborator on albums of other ECM artists (in addition of pop/rock artists such as Kate Bush), and this cd covers both areas.

'Nimbus', taken from guitarist RALPH TOWNER's album Solstice (1974), centers at first on 12-string guitar and features also Jan Garbarek and drummer Jon Christensen. 'The Whopper' (from GARY BURTON's Passengers, 1976) is composed by the featured guitarist Pat Metheny. The bright and laid-back piece contains soli for el.guitar and Burton's vibraharp. Needless to say that Weber's superb bass playing is present on each track. 'Oasis' (PAT METHENY, Watercolors, 1977) is a minor-key tune centering on acoustic guitar.

Weber has composed roughly half of the cd's material. The peaceful title track of his album Fluid Rustle (1979) is mesmerizing, with Burton's vibraharp, Bill Frisell's guitar and wordless singing by Norma Winstone & Bonnie Herman. Along the compilation one hears also elegant piano of Lyle Mays and Rainer Bruninghaus, and breezy soprano sax by Paul McCandless of the band Oregon and Weber's central employer JAN GARBAREK, whose album Wayfarer (1983) is represented by 'Gesture'.

An excellent compilation, recommendable to anyone enjoying thoughtful, calm and richly nuanced music for mainly acoustic instruments, not only for jazz/fusion enthusiasts.

Beautiful and touching and very dynamic insturmental jazzfusion music with some folk and prog elements.

The music is reminiscent to Bundles-era Soft Machine but it stands on its own. Very nice interplay between sax, piano, upright bass and the versatile drumming of John Marshall. The most solos are played by the saxophonist, but the music as a whole provides plenty of space for all involved to give their best and their most.

What touches me the most is the beautiful artwork by Maja Weber. My vinyl-version has an extra insert with more of her beautiful artwork. It really adds to the sensation. Both aural and visual.

I can absolutely recommend this album. Almost all Eberhard's albums are excellent, but to me this album is his best.

A solid followup to The Colours of Chloe finds whispers of the "ECM Jazz" style that Weber would eventually settle into, but the album is still rather wilder and woolier than is typical of the label, combining the fusion chops of the likes of weather report with a sense of playfulness which, whilst not going fully into Canterbury territory, feels like you can potentially see the back garden of Gilgamesh or the Muffins if you found a tall place in the Yellow Fields to look from. You can tell its the real deal 1970s stuff because Rainer Brueninghaus' mellotron is such a signature instrument, particularly in the opening Touch that leads into the wide fusion vistas of Sand-Glass.

All the colors of marbles.

An amazingly balanced 4 track release which is both traditional and yet way out of its time. Few musicians could actually bring on fresh as new alternate routes to these quiet walked Jazz/Fusion roads.

Eberhard Weber's "The Colours of Chloe", 1974, is full of daring surprises.

Track one "More Colours" has a symphonic melodramatic even cinematic quality as it also strips naked to solitary acoustic bass pluckings, as a runaway piano blends in to counterpoint the symphonic flow, which may also serve as a filter of the kind of Jazz/Fusion colors Eberhard Weber is talking about and these are not exactly mainstream ones. 3.5 stars.

Track two "The Colours of Chloe" is, for starters, the perfect blend between some Progressive Electronic elements which fit in with a more traditional Jazz/Fusion styling and its pertinent instumentation without submitting its electronic value but actually enhancing it as its true to the bone Jazz accomplice while the bass guitar provides really good dynamics and more than once one of the many highlights of the song at the time the piano structures the main theme line with colorful splendor and the strings built up the emotional mood. 4.5 stars.

The trumpet marks the melody and rhythm on track 3 "An Evening With Vincent Van Ritz" with complex drum beats building the dynamic tension while the obscure strings' melody monumentally cast a shadow subtly over the final theme's notes. 4 stars

Track 4 "No Motion Picture" the 5 stars track of this release, takes off where its younger Track 2 sibling left. It has the added bonus of reloading previous highlights and mixing them all at once. But above all it beholds a more personal and unique approach to the whole Jazz/Fusion styling.

This track is divided in 3 movements in a strict classical music sense, therefore its overture serves also as its closure.

In the first part the electric keys as the bass guitar's work set the melody lines for the rest of the ensemble to fall in.

The second movement is the acoustic piano's showcase aided by a creative and quiet obscure string/choir work which eventually builds the coda of the composition.

All in all adventurous, original, highly enjoyable and full of intelligent songwriting, devoid of any kind of mainstream cliches usually found in these Jazz/Fusion territories.

****4 PA stars.

For this album Eberhard Weber debuted his short-lived backing band Colours. Saxnan and flute friend Charlie Mariano and keyboard wizard Rainer Brüninghaus had backed Weber on the preceding Yellow Fields; the ensemble was rounded out by John Marshall, who had just left Soft Machine. The blend of talents and backgrounds proves to be an apt one; Marshall, in particular, seems to benefit from working with a fresh new project, the Soft Machine having rather run its course by this point. The sound of the album seems to be solidly rooted in the ECM jazz style that had become Weber's trademark by this point, but the capable performances from all concerned keeps things interesting.

I'm always on the lookout for great intrumental records. I don't care if it's spacemusic, ambient, trance, new age, jazz/fusion, symphonic rock, classical or whatever.

Instrumental music has an enchanting and meditative character. That's why I came across this wonderful piece of fusion/sympho.

Great basswork, piano and synth work combined with cello's, fluegelhorn and heavy drumming. There is a lot going on, sometimes pastoral, quiet, beautiful and sometimes heavy, intricate and almost threatening. It's like watching a movie, with pictures. That's what instrumental music is all about. You can create your own daydreams to the music.

I have to search for more like this, because since discovering the band Uzva, I haven't heard something so great as this masterpiece.

I'm not quite blown away by this one as I was by The Colours of Chloe, I think because by now Eberhard Weber had moved more away from the fusion-ish elements of that album into a more ECM chamber jazz style of almost ambient jazz. But that said, this whole ambient jazz thing works really remarkably well. Weber's double bass sonorously creates an aura of peace around itself which the other performers support with delicate, restrained performances. Not one to put on when you are in the mood for furious excitement, but if you want something a bit more meditative it could well hit the spot nicely.

The Colours of Chloë is an understated thing of musical beauty. It does take some time to fully figure it out, though.

After I have listened to it once or twice, I rated it 4 stars, because I'd found it a pleasantly sounding, well played and listener-friendly album (despite a fairly high degree of musical sophistication). Then I had this strange sensation that I was "missing something", so I felt an urge to go back and play it again .. and again .. a few times.

It's like one of those advent calendars: every day you revisit it , you witness a another little door open, allowing you to discover a new facet, or to come up with a new interpretation.

As with all complex suites, the exact "(sub)genre of the Colours of Chloë is a little hard to define; it's advertised as "fusion", but I think it;s closer to symphonic.

Whichever way, it's a very tasteful, elegant, smoothly flowing and perfectly timed/measured album that doesn't seem to have any visible weak spots. I am a little surprised the Colours of Chloë hasn't attracted broader PA attention, but then again: so much music out there, so little time.