Terje Rypdal

Terje Rypdal – Waves (1978/2016) [Official Digital Download 24bit/192kHz]

Studio Masters By admin · October 18, 2023 · Comments off

Norwegian guitarist and composer Terje Rypdal, tone poet of the Fender Stratocaster, began his relationship with ECM back in 1970, when he was part of Jan Garbarek’s quartet on Afric Pepperbird, the saxophonist’s own label debut. Some Rypdal material that didn’t find its way onto Garbarek’s Sart the following year led ECM’s Manfred Eicher to suggest Rypdal record his own album, thereby beginning one of the label’s most fertile and long-lasting collaborations.

Rypdal’s eponymous debut as leader was recorded that same year. After the Rain (1976) and Waves (1977) followed, the latter featuring some of the jazziest material of Rypdal’s career created amidst a stellar supporting cast of Palle Mikkelborg, Sveinung Hovensjø and Jon Christensen. Michael Tucker described “Rypdal’s blending of rock and jazz phrasing with a rubato concern for tone colour and dynamics often redolent of the classical world.”

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Terje Rypdal – Odyssey In Studio & In Concert (2012) [Official Digital Download 24bit/96kHz]

Studio Masters By admin · October 17, 2023 · Comments off

Terje Rypdal‘s Odyssey: In Studio & In Concert is a very special release. It includes not only the complete Odyssey album (recorded 1975) in high-resolution audio (Studio Master) for the first time (restoring the long track Rolling Stone to its rightful place), but also a full disc of previously unreleased material on which Terje Rypdal s Odyssey band is augmented by the Swedish Radio Jazz Group in a 1976 live performance of Rypdal s suite Unfinished Highballs.

In the liner notes, Rypdal tells John Kelman, Odyssey was my first major band, and the music was different too because, more and more, I was writing music in two layers one thing going on with the bass and drums, and rubato playing layered over the top. It was the first time I d to connect with a band, more about writing together with improvisation. It was a challenge; I was trying to bring together the composer and the player. Rypdal s ideas of form and freedom are beautifully sculpted and registered in Manfred Eicher s widescreen production.

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Terje Rypdal – Conspiracy (2020) [Official Digital Download 24bit/96kHz]

Studio Masters By admin · October 17, 2023 · Comments off

The sonic signature of Terje Rypdal is unmistakable – the yearning, skywards-slanting sustains which introduce his new album could not be anyone else. On Conspiracy the Norwegian electric guitarist – Terje likes to emphasise the electric – reconnects with the inspiration that fuelled such early masterpieces as Whenever I Seem To Be Far Away, Odyssey and Waves, exploring the potential of his instrument with both a rock improviser’s love of raw energy and a composer’s feeling for space and sound-colour. Conspiracy, recorded at Oslo’s Rainbow Studio is Terje’s first new ECM studio album in two decades and is cause for celebration. His other 21st century recordings have, to date, drawn upon live sources. The clarity and depth of the new production, and the panoramic sweep of the music, invite the listener to explore the grain, the detail and the texture of its enveloping sounds up close. Keyboardist Stale Storløkken, who contributed to Terje’s Vossabrygg and Crime Scene albums is an ideal co-conspirator, perpetually thickening the plot with his own intuitive feeling for complementary sound-colours. Conspiracy also marks a welcome return for Pal Thowsen, whose subtle, detailed drumming was last heard on ECM with Arild Andersen’s 1970s groups. Rypdal’s best band in years is completed by gifted young bass guitarist Endre Hareide Hallre. Personnel: Terje Rypdal: electric guitar; Stale Storløkken: keyboards; Endre Hareide Hallre: bass, fretless bass; Pal Thowsen: drums and percussion. ‘Conspiracy’ was recorded at Oslo’s Rainbow Studio and produced by Manfred Eicher and Terje Rypdal.

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