Chicago Tribune | Arts+Entertainment | Section 4 | Friday, August 25, 2017 3

JOHN ABERCROMBIE 1944-2017 Influential jazz guitarist of the ’70s fusion scene By Harrison Smith The Washington Post

John Abercrombie, an influential jazz guitarist and composer who came to prominence in the 1970s with a lyrical, im- provisatory style that applied the swagger of rock ’n’ roll to the loose rhythms of jazz, died Tuesday at a hospital in Cortlandt, N.Y. He was 72. Marc Copland, a friend and pianist who per- formed with Abercrombie at his final shows in late 2016, said Abercrombie had a stroke in May and had been ill for several months. A leading guitarist of jazz fusion’s heyday in the 1970s, Abercrombie sported a thick mustache CHRISTOPHER TRIBBLE/ECM RECORDS and wavy hair, playing In addition to performing, John Abercrombie lectured on stringed instruments jazz at Purchase College in New York. including the acoustic NUCCIO DINUZZO/CHICAGO TRIBUNE PHOTOS mandolin and the Roland told NPR, and he began Holland in a group that Orbert Davis takes the stage to lead his Chicago Jazz Philharmonic on Wednesday. guitar synthesizer, a de- imitating the rollicking intermittently toured and vice he once described as style of Chuck Berry before recorded for the next 20 IN PERFORMANCE a “red electric safety pin.” turning to jazz. years. While Abercrombie He studied at Berklee The Gateway trio was produced a sound that College of Music in Boston one of Abercrombie’s best- was sometimes wildly — in part, he said, to avoid known projects, but he Orbert Davis, CJP bring experimental, incorporat- the Vietnam War draft — said his most enjoyable ing electric squawks and before moving to New ensemble may have been a heavy reverb, his four- York, where he gained recently formed quartet decade career was largely notice playing with drum- with Copland on piano, their best to ‘Best Of’ defined by gentle, impres- mer Chico Hamilton and bassist Drew Gress and Ensemble covers sionistic guitar melodies. contributed metallic guitar drummer Joey Baron. The His music helped his riffs to one of the strangest outfit assembled for the 13 years of work longtime home, ECM children’s albums ever 2013 album “39 Steps” and with passion, skill Records, acquire a reputa- made, “The Stark Reality for “Up and Coming,” tion as a haven for jazz Discovers Hoagy released in January. By Howard Reich musicians with a reflec- Carmichael’s Music Shop” “In a world of rampant Chicago Tribune tive, refined sound. (1970). populism, the description Abercrombie played The record was a piece ‘musicians’ musician’ On an indelible night in with greats including of psychedelic jazz rock in might become even more 2004, trumpeter-composer saxophonists Jan Gar- the mold of Miles Davis’ of a backhand compliment, Orbert Davis introduced to barek and Charles Lloyd, landmark album “Bitches but if anyone can defend its the world a majestic new trumpeters Enrico Rava Brew” — and aimed, osten- virtues, it’s American gui- ensemble: the Chicago and Kenny Wheeler, and sibly, at the “Sesame tarist John Abercrombie,” Jazz Philharmonic. fellow guitarist Ralph Street” crowd. jazz critic John Fordham “Give me about five Towner, whose classical It flopped but was redis- wrote in a review for Brit- seconds,” he told the Chi- style he accompanied on a covered decades later by ain’s Guardian. “The whole cago Jazz Festival crowd in pair of soaring guitar hip-hop artists including album is the quintessence Grant Park, as he surveyed records, “Sargasso Sea” Schoolboy Q and the Black of jazz power in reserve.” his 55-piece band. Davis and his ensemble’s performance launched a four- (1976) and “Five Years Eyed Peas. Abercrombie’s survivors “You know what’s the concert series that will continue in the summer of 2018. Later” (1981). Abercrombie performed include his wife of 31 years, bad thing about dreams? His subtle fretwork and with Dreams, a short-lived the former Lisa Abram. You wake up. … And I don’t understated stage pres- but pioneering jazz-rock Abercrombie was a want to wake up.” ence as a bandleader led outfit, before leading a lecturer in jazz at Purchase Remarkably, the dream some critics and musi- group of his own on College, part of the State continues, as Davis and the cians to compare him to “Timeless,” his 1975 debut University of New York CJP proved Wednesday jazz guitarist Jim Hall, with ECM and one of his system, and said his musi- night at the Pritzker Pavil- who died in 2013 and most acclaimed records. cal style was in a constant ion in Millennium Park. whom Abercrombie cited The album featured key- state of development. Launching a four-concert as a key influence, along boardist Jan Hammer, who “I am playing the music series that will continue in with Wes Montgomery went on to score the theme I want to play for now. The the summer of 2018, Davis and pianist Bill Evans. to “Miami Vice,” and only thing that’s not right and the CJP have become “He was really con- drummer Jack De- about it is it’s not as good indispensable figures in cerned with contributing Johnette, who had played as I want it yet,” he said in musical Chicago. to the overall sound of the on “Bitches Brew.” “What Is This Thing For during the past 13 group rather than calling The title track, music Called Jazz?” a 2001 col- years, these musicians have attention to himself,” critic Larry Rohter wrote lection of interviews by premiered ambitious, Copland said. “He used to in a review for The Wash- consultant Batt Johnson. “I evening-length works, like to say onstage, ‘I like ington Post, was “a 12- want to become like Miles most composed by Davis to pretend I’m a sideman minute masterpiece that (Davis) was and Louis and each embracing both in my own group.’ It conveys the feeling of Armstrong. I want to be jazz and classical tradi- would always get a drifting and floating vocal on the instrument tions, to varying degrees. chuckle, but he was kind dreaminess better than any without necessarily being There’s no other ensemble of being serious.” recorded piece since Miles technical. ... The thing that quite like it in America, John Laird Abercrom- Davis’ ‘In a Silent Way.’ ” gets you first is their music, and bravo to the city’s bie was born Dec. 16, 1944, Abercrombie followed it just the sound of it. Then Department of Cultural The Chicago Jazz Philharmonic Youth Ensemble offered in Rye, N.Y., according to with “Gateway” (1976), afterward you realize how Affairs and Special Events, the crowd a rousing, curtain-raising set Wednesday. Copland — some say the which featured De- difficult it was to play what which has given the CJP a birthplace was nearby Johnette and bassist Dave they played.” singular opportunity in previous century via sound Each work on the pro- Port Chester — and grew Millennium Park. and image. gram, however, offered a up in Greenwich, Conn. For though Davis and Davis and the CJP em- distinct sonic vocabulary. When he was 14, his the CJP already have ployed the same device at The innovations of Igor parents bought him an played several of Chicago’s the Pritzker, a rare instance Stravinsky and Chicago’s acoustic guitar with steel “ ’ most prestigious musical in which the oversize LED Association for the Ad- strings “like telephone THERE ISN TAKID addresses, including Or- screen was put to effective vancement of Creative cables,” Abercrombie once chestra Hall and the Audi- use in a jazz context. As Musicians echoed in the IN AMERICA WHO torium Theatre, the chance the audience witnessed “1000 Questions, One ’ ‘ ’ to perform multiple free idyllic scenes of the river’s Answer” movement of WON TLOVE LEAP! concerts at the Pritzker flow, listeners heard Davis’ Davis’ “Collective Cre- Clever and fun for adults too!” Pavilion (for the first time gorgeous, pastoral pas- ativity” suite (2005), en- -Roger Friedman since 2008) will enable it sages for woodwinds in the hanced here by guest flut- “ to reach a broader public opening movement, “A ist Anabel Gill (her pres- NOT SINCE SPIKE JONZE’S ‘HER’ than ever before. Lost Panorama.” ence a testament to the HAS HUMANITY’S UNEASY As if to help listeners But before the Chicago CJP’s ongoing collabora- EMBRACEOFSEDUCTIVE catch up on what they may River’s course was re- tions with musicians from TECHNOLOGY BEEN GIVEN SUCH have missed, Wednesday versed, parts of it were Havana). And the joyously SOULFUL CONTEMPLATION.” evening’s “The Best Of” filthy and putrid, leading populist facets of the CJP –THE HOLLYWOOD REPORTER program featured high- Davis to build sharp disso- were plain to hear and see lights of past perform- nance and thick textures in “Hoe Down,” Davis’ riff ances, encapsulating more into the “Brewing the on that movement from than a decade’s work in a Toxic Stew” movement. Aaron Copland’s “Rodeo” little over two hours of Even if you didn’t know of suite, with tap dancers Bril music-making (plus a the tanneries and factories Barrett and Tre Dumas rousing, curtain-raising set that once dumped so much hoofing exuberantly in by the Chicago Jazz Phil- sludge into the river, you’d front of the band. harmonic Youth Ensemble, realize this vignette carried Singers Maggie Brown, “‘LEAP’ IS A BLESSING!” skillfully led by Roosevelt some of the most evocative Bobbi Wilsyn and Terisa -Roger Moore, MOVIE NATION Griffin). The CJP’s sheer orchestral writing of Davis’ Griffin sang standards with range of expression — from career. the philharmonic, under- mainstream swing to edgy Davis has been grap- scoring Davis’ efforts to FEATURING avant-garde to straightfor- pling with Miles Davis and prove that accessibility and MUSIC BY ward Americana — illumi- Gil Evans’ “Sketches of sophistication need not be DEMI LOVATO nated the value of this Spain” for decades, and mutually exclusive propo- SIA AND THE HIT SONG organization. Orbert Davis (no relation) sitions. “CUT TO THE FEELING” BY Davis has created some dared to expand on the It has taken Davis and CARLY RAE of his most pictorial writ- masterwork in 2011 with friends a long time to reach JEPSEN ing for the CJP in his suite “Sketches of Spain (Revis- this level of artistic elan JON HAMM “The Chicago River,” ited).” The “El Moreno” and to have built this large GEENA DAVIS TIM ROBBINS which told the story of the movement he built on and varied a repertoire. LOIS SMITH reversal of the great water- themes of the original That’s quite an achieve- way. When Davis and the “Sketches” stood as a tour ment, and it augurs well MARJORIE CJP premiered the piece in de force of subtle orches- for the ensemble’s return Orchestra Hall in 2013, tral color and sounded still to Millennium Park next historic photos of the river more alluring this time year. PRIME from Michael Williams around. Duet passages A FILM BY MICHAEL ALMEREYDA and Richard Cahan’s book between trumpeter Davis Howard Reich is a Tribune “The Lost Panoramas” and John Moulder, playing critic. STARTS TODAY ARTWORK ©2017 THE WEINSTEIN COMPANY were projected onto a flamenco guitar, were FACETS CINÉMATHÈQUE © 2016 MITICO - GAUMONT - M6 FILMS - PCF BALLERINA LE FILM INC. www.leapmovieshop.com 1517 W. FULLERTON AVENUE screen, taking listeners among the most tender of [email protected] (773) 281-4114 CHICAGO STARTS TODAY AT THEATERS EVERYWHERE back to the turn of the the evening. 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