Jack DeJohnette
Today we’re listening to Jack DeJohnette, an American jazz drummer from Chicago. He passed away last week at 83. Wikipedia’s shortlist of his collaborators is “Freddie Hubbard, Keith Jarrett, Bill Evans, John Abercrombie, Alice Coltrane, Sonny Rollins, Miles Davis, Joe Henderson, Michael Brecker, Pat Metheny, Herbie Hancock, and John Scofield.” Fragments from recent remembrances of DeJohnette:
Nate Chinen (NPR): “one of the most daring and dynamic jazz drummers of the last 60 years, with a loose-limbed yet exacting beat that propelled a limitless range of adventurous music”
Ethan Iverson (Transitional Technology): “perhaps the most crucial ECM musician, keeping all those Manfred Eicher productions grounded in something American no matter what.”
Hank Shteamer (New York Times): “Mr. DeJohnette rose to prominence in the second half of the 1960s, when jazz was expanding in multiple directions, absorbing textures from rock, R&B and various international traditions, and embracing fearless abstraction. His approach, which could be hushed or explosive, swinging or fiercely funky, built bridges between the old and the new.”
We’re first playing Timeless from 1975, DeJohnette’s record with John Abercrombie (guitar) and Jan Hammer (keys). It’s hard to imagine, on “Lungs” and “Red and Orange” especially, physically how one could play the kit like that. Second is Batik from 1978, an ECM record with Ralph Towner (guitar) and Eddie Gómez (bass).
Timeless - Jack DeJohnette, John Abercrombie, Jan Hammer (43m, no vocals)
Spotify / Apple Music / YouTube Music / Amazon Music / Tidal
Batik - Jack DeJohnette, Ralph Towner, Eddie Gómez (45m, basically no vocals)
Spotify / Apple Music / YouTube Music / Amazon Music / Tidal
Have a great Thursday.
RIP sir.