#10

GEORGE DUKE — THE AURA WILL PREVAIL  [MPS]

This enthralling album has so many styles you run out of fingers. Jazz, of course; it’s George Duke. There is also funk and soul, some progressive rock colours (especially the synth work), a touch of latin… and every permutation implied by the preceding list. It’s a bright, melodic record; less arch and self-conscious than Frank Zappa’s work at this time yet showing the same commitment to first rate playing. Here, however, there’s a warmth and welcome that is very appealing.

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#9

KEITH JARRETT — THE KÖLN CONCERT  [ECM]

One way to hear The Köln Concert—beyond the usual mythology of the bad piano, the fatigue, the spinning gold from straw—is as an album about constraints as catalysts. Jarrett doesn’t transcend the instrument so much as negotiate with it: the shallow bass, the uneven action and the thin treble combine to push him toward vamp-based architecture, dance-like figures, and long arcs built from incremental shifts rather than harmonic exploration. What’s striking is how this turns the improvisation into something almost participatory. The piece invites the listener inside its problem-solving process, making the concert less a feat of inspiration than a real-time demonstration of resilience turned into beauty. (To hear Jarrett really soaring, seek out Solo Concerts: Bremen/Lausanne; ECM 1973.)

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#8

MODERN JAZZ QUARTET — THE LAST CONCERT  [ATLANTIC]

Recorded in 1974 and released the following year, The Last Concert captures the Modern Jazz Quartet closing the book on more than two decades of elegant chamber-jazz. The set functions as both summation and celebration: John Lewis’s poise, Milt Jackson’s blues-soaked lyricism, and the unflappable rhythm team of Percy Heath and Connie Kay come together in a formal wrapping that still swings. It plays not as a farewell, but as a celebration.

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#7

HERBIE HANCOCK — FLOOD  [CBS/SONY]

When Hancock and the Headhunters recorded their Tokyo concerts in 1975 the band was in full funky flight. Opening with a solo-acoustic “Maiden Voyage” before diving into “Actual Proof” and “Spank-A-Lee,” the album frames Hancock’s shift from post-bop roots to high-octane funk as a coherent arc. Bennie Maupin’s reeds and Jan “Blackbyrd” McKnight’s guitar give the band a dense, flexible surface, while Paul Jackson, Mike Clark and Bill Summers lock into intricate, precise grooves. This was long a Japan-only release but is now seen as a vital part of his 70s discography.

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#6

BRIAN BROWN QUINTET — CARLTON STREETS  [44 RECORDS / THE ROUNDTABLE]

Brian Brown was a significant player in Australian jazz, a versatile musician who moved easily between tenor, soprano and flute. The quintet he assembled for this LP features Bob Sedergreen on el. piano, augmented by the Jazzbird Orchestra whose bigger sound is used deftly for depth and colour. The music is ‘contemporary’ jazz, with jazz-rock sections and improvised moments. A sense of space and place brings a uniquely Australian flavour to much of the music. The title cut captures the buzz and excitement of Melbourne’s iconic inner city suburb (where your correspondent was dallying at uni when the LP was originally released) while the remainder of side one relates the story of a First Nations girl whose journey of displacement, despair and death is sadly familiar. An unusual and memorable album.

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#5

STEVE KUHN — ECSTACY [ECM]

A reflective, quietly intense solo-piano album that captures the American pianist at his most lyrical. The pieces unfold with a deliberate, unhurried logic: singing right-hand lines, resonant left-hand patterns, and harmonies that drift between classical poise and jazz ambiguity. The improvisations feel like extended meditations, each piece circling around a mood rather than building to peaks. It’s an intimate record that evokes calm night air and memories.

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#4

RALPH TOWNER — SOLSTICE  [ECM]

Solstice gathers an inspired quartet — Towner on classical and 12-string guitar (and occasional piano), plus Jan Garbarek (sax, flute), Eberhard Weber (bass, ‘cello) and Jon Christensen (drums, percussion). The album unfolds like a journey through shimmering spaces and delicate atmospheres; a perfect calling card for the ECM label. The interplay is subtle and intuitive, always fluid and alive to the moment. Garbarek’s wind instruments have never sounded so relatable while Weber’s bowed bass (or ‘cello) weave lower register undercurrents of great beauty. It all sounds so effortless you sometimes have to shake yourself into admiration for the class and skill.

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#3

JOHN ABERCROMBIE — GATEWAY  [ECM]

In this guitar trio setting Abercrombie, Jack De Johnette and Dave Holland aren’t chasing fusion firepower so much as exploring elastic time and contour—music that swells, contracts and drifts without losing direction. Abercrombie’s guitar strides between lyricism and abrasion; Holland acts as both anchor and provocateur; De Johnette treats the drum kit as a weather system rather than a meter, always knowing when to throttle back. There are few guitar trio albums as arresting as this one.

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#2

TERJE RYPDAL — ODYSSEY  [ECM]

This extraordinary double album presents electric guitar, saxophone, organ and percussion as cloud formations drifting over a Norwegian coastline. What’s remarkable is how the music balances grandeur and austerity. Rypdal’s long, keening lines drift above Sveinung Hovensjø’s bass pulses, while Torbjørn Sunde’s trombone and Brynjulf Blix’s organ thicken the air without cluttering it. The suite-like flow makes the album feel less like a collection of tunes than a single landscape dappled with time-lapse sunlight and cloud. It’s rock, jazz and modern composition held in suspension—an album that breathes. One of ECM’s most quietly epic statements.

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#1

JOHN ABERCROMBIE / JAN HAMMER / JACK DE JOHNETTE — TIMELESS  [ECM]

This trio album—Abercrombie on guitar, Hammer (ex-Mahavishnu Orchestra) on organ/piano/synthesizer, and De Johnette on drums—trades northern European minimalism for a bold fusion-inspired energy. It is Jan Hammer’s funky synth sounds, often highly rhythmic, that give Timeless its unique musical flavour; it’s like Kraftwerk swallowed a James Brown pill. Opener “Lungs” starts at a fast trot before subsiding onto a peaceful park bench for some slow breaths and an influx of arboreal reflection. “Red and Orange”, in contrast, is like two immensely agile squash players beating the heck out of a fast-moving ball as it and the players bounce off the walls: exhilarating fusion that sounds like nothing else. In between are moments of quiet, lyrical introspection (“Love Song” and “Ralph’s Piano Waltz”). Drummer De Johnette demonstrates almost supernatural restraint and delivers one of his most mature, subtle performances, largely based on what he does not do.  The LP ends with the epic title track, beginning with a moody synth undercurrent that gradually builds atmosphere through guitar, organ textures and a slow-burning pulse. It’s ambient, hypnotic, meditative. This was one of the first ECM albums I bought; I love it still.

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PART ONE: 1975 JAZZ  |  #20 — #11