Odyssey - In Studio & In Concert

Terje Rypdal

EN / DE
Box Set from the "Old & New Masters" Series.
 
The electric guitar innovator in the 1970s. This box set in ECM’s Old & New Masters Series collects Terje Rypdal’s two-LP Odyssey album – heard on CD, for the first time, in its entirety, including the much-requested and epically-rocking  “Rolling Stone” – and “Unfinished Highballs”, a recently unearthed 1976 radio recording that documents the Norwegian guitarist’s work for his Odyssey quartet and the Swedish Radio Jazz Group. The complete Odyssey may address a longstanding demand, but “Unfinished Highballs” will surprise even Rypdal’s most committed fans. It reveals that not only were many of the markers which would come to define his career already in place, but the intrepid guitarist was already searching for ways to include, rather than exclude, in his approach to composition and performance.
Der große E-Gitarreninnovator der 1970er Jahre mit einem Box-Set aus der Old & New Masters-Serie bei ECM. Es versammelt Terje Rypdals „Odyssey“-Doppel-LP (hier erstmals komplett auf CD erhältlich, mitsamt dem gesuchten und episch rockenden „Rolling Stone“) und „Unfinished Highballs“, einen kürzlich wiederentdeckten Radiomitschnitt aus dem Jahr 1976, der die Arbeit des norwegischen Gitarristen für sein Odyssey-Quartet und die Swedish Radio Jazz Group dokumentiert.
Während mit der vollständigen „Odyssey“-Fassung nun langjährigen Nachfragen entsprochen werden kann, dürfte „Unfinished Highballs“ selbst eingefleischte Rypdal-Fans überraschen. Hier zeigt sich, dass nicht nur all jene Charakteristika, die Rypdals Karriere später bestimmen sollten, bereits früh vorhanden waren, sondern auch der Ehrgeiz des unermüdlichen Gitarristen, immer weitere musikalische Elemente in seine Arbeit als Komponist und Performer zu integrieren.
Featured Artists Recorded

1975-1976

Original Release Date

15.06.2012

  • CD 1
  • 1Darkness Falls
    (Terje Rypdal)
    03:34
  • 2Midnite
    (Terje Rypdal)
    16:42
  • 3Adagio
    (Terje Rypdal)
    13:12
  • 4Better Off Without You
    (Terje Rypdal)
    07:37
  • CD 2
  • 1Over Birkerot
    (Terje Rypdal)
    04:48
  • 2Fare Well
    (Terje Rypdal)
    11:28
  • 3Ballade
    (Terje Rypdal)
    06:00
  • 4Rolling Stone
    (Terje Rypdal)
    23:29
  • CD 3
  • 1Unfinished Highballs
    (Terje Rypdal)
    03:52
  • 2The Golden Eye
    (Terje Rypdal)
    14:01
  • 3Scarlet Mistress
    (Terje Rypdal)
    12:27
  • 4Dawn
    (Terje Rypdal)
    12:29
  • 5Dine And Dance To The Music Of The Waves
    (Terje Rypdal)
    11:40
  • 6Talking Back
    (Terje Rypdal)
    07:10
  • 7Bright Lights - Big City
    (Terje Rypdal)
    06:15
Terje Rypdal’s “Odyssey: In Studio & In Concert” is a very special release. It includes not only the complete “Odyssey” album (recorded 1975) on CD 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.
John Kelman: “The release of ‘Odyssey’ in its entirety, along with the significant revelations of ‘Unfinished Highballs’, comes when Rypdal is in a period of renewed creativity and activity, making it especially relevant as a more complete document of how confluence, at an early stage in his career, ultimately led to the further multidisciplinary junctions that keep his music as fresh and relevant as he approaches 65.”
“I’m very happy this is coming out”, Rypdal says, “because I’ve been asked, before ‘Crime Scene’ was released, if I’d written anything for big band. I think this is a very important part of my career: I’m very glad “Rolling Stone” is finally coming out; and ‘Unfinished Highballs’ will be a surprise to a lot of people. That’s what I really like about this box – that it can accomplish both at the same time.”