The Third Quartet is master guitarist John Abercrombie's 25th leader recording for ECM. This third album from his current quartet with Mark Feldman, Marc Johnson and Joey Baron is the strongest yet from this band, in its seventh year of playing together. The repertoire on the new recording includes eight new tunes from Abercrombie, plus two classics of new jazz - Bill Evans's "Epilogue," and Ornette Coleman's "Round Trip."

John Abercrombie is one of the most influential guitarists in jazz history. His oeuvre on ECM not only includes his own discs, but also recordings with Charles Lloyd, Jan Garbarek, Kenny Wheeler, Jack DeJohnette and others. His band mates have also played some of the biggest names in jazz and music: Pharoah Sanders, John Zorn, Bill Frisell, Dave Douglas, Bill Evans and Johnny Cash. Each have an impressive ECM roster or recordings, including recent leader albums from Feldman and Johnson.
Guitarist John Abercrombie has been one of those ECM heritage artists over the years, helping the label define its cerebral and sometimes austere vision of creative jazz. Abercrombie's playing is clean, melodic, and subtle--he reaches beyond jazz to incorporate bits of classical, folk, blues, and rock. Here he's complemented by an amazing group--drummer Joey Baron, bassist Marc Johnson, and violinist Mark Feldman--for the third time. Though busy in a number of different contexts, the group members are wholly in sync with Abercrombie's vision, leaving plenty of space for the music to breath, prodding when it lingers, and generally adding elegant accompaniment throughout. The group is almost tango-like in its ability to build songs passionately through tasteful restraint. Of the ten tunes here, takes on Ornette Coleman's "Round Trip" and Bill Evans's "Epilogue" are telling signposts of influence, but this is a band that presses on, creating beautiful music that lives in the here and now. --Tad Hendrickson

Customer Rating:
Summary: An hour of great ECM Jazz
Comment: This is fantastic modern jazz from ECM, John and his band are right in there, weaving superb compositions and improvs throughout. Highly recommended.

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Customer Rating:
Summary: What a splendid experience
Comment: It is quite an unusal experience to hear the combination of an electric guitar and a violin so if you are up to experimenting this is the album for you! John Abercrombie proves himself as a remarkable guitar player and he ranks among giants like John McLaughlin in the old days and even Al Dimeola, correct me if I am wrong! Go for it!

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Customer Rating:
Summary: John Abercrombie just gets better
Comment: I have listened to this man's guitar playing since he played with Billy
Cobham. I am not a guitarist. I can only say he has an incredible sense
of touch & dynamics. I recently had the pleasure of seeing him play with
this quartet in Birdland, NYC.They were fantastic. I thought 'Gateway II'
was one of my favorites of his. This is way up there (all this groups
recordings come highly recomended).from 'Cosmic Chicken (somebody please
release that)to Arcade,the organ trios, directions,etc..listen to this
man & the people he surrounds himself with. You wont EVER be disappointed.

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Customer Rating:
Summary: UNFORTUNATELY, NOT THE BEST QUARTET
Comment: The music on this release is meandering and uninspired...too much violin, not enough guitar. I really don't know what the appeal of a violin on a jazz album, especially with 2 other stringed instruments, has for some but for me it's grating. If you want to hear some INVOLVING quartet music, try the 1st quartet from the 70s (QUARTET, ARCADE or M) which unfortunately ECM, maddeningly, refuses to re-issue on CD (strangely, a gap in Abercrombie's catalog that may remain that way). Some of them can be found on Japanese imports but at premium prices. WHY? Who knows but John's in a rut here ... for some exciting recent Abercrombie, try STRUCTURES, a trio release from '06. Otherwise, pass on this.

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Customer Rating:
Summary: John Abercrombie's Return To ECM
Comment: John Abercrombie has recorded prolifically for the ECM label since the early '70s. His output has been very thoroughly documented, while at ECM, he also performed as a session player on countless albums. Most notably with Kenny Wheeler, Ralph Towner, Colin Wolcott, Jack DeJohnette, Charles Lloyd, among others. His own compositions and guitar playing are very melodic and lyrical. His improvisational playing is some of the best out there. He can pretty much do anything on the guitar. He's a virtuoso in the truest sense. While he's technical master on the guitar, he is also a very textural player. He often shifts moods to match what the piece of music is doing. Abercrombie, quite simply, is one of the greatest jazz guitarist of the last 30 years. His popularity, however, is somewhat baffling to me and at the same time it's really a shame that more people don't know about him. I can honestly say he's influenced my own guitar playing. Abercrombie is a VERY underrated jazz guitarist. "The Third Quartet" is Abercrombie's first album for ECM in 3 years.

"The Third Quartet" picks up where 2004's "Class Trip" left off. However, the music here is more refined and this is simply because this particular quartet has been playing together for 9 years. This music is very hard to describe. I wouldn't classify it as free jazz, because there is structure to the music, but I wouldn't necessarily call this music bebop either. What I would call it is chamber jazz. It's a deicate balance of classical and jazz. The jazz aspect of this music is obviously within the improvisations, but the music follows more in the lines of classical. This type of jazz is something Abercrombie has been working on for many, many years. The instrumentation on this album as with the groups other two albums is quite unique: guitar, violin, bass, and drums. Mark Feldman plays violin and is one of the better violinist I've heard that can improvise in a jazz context. His ideas are always interesting and melodic and they add color to a piece. He definitely is one of the best jazz violinist I've heard. Someone like Regina Carter needs to look at what Feldman is doing and take notes. He's the new jazz violinist that people need to be aware of. Marc Johnson, on bass, has been around for a very long time. He has played with so many musicians, but I think his best early work is with pianist Bill Evans. Marc has also released some very fine albums under the ECM and Polydor labels, most notably the album "Right Brain Patrol" remains one of my personal favorites of Johnson's. Marc always provides great support to his bandmantes. Joey Baron, on drums, is one of the wildest and most original drummers of the last 15 years. He's been an active member in Bill Frisell's band and has been apart of John Zorn's group Naked City and has also played on countless John Zorn albums. Baron's work with Masada, John Zorn's group that blends traditional Jewish music with jazz, has been a very rewarding listening experience. Baron's style is one that is in constant motion. He doesn't stay in one spot to long and yet he provides this group with what it needs: a driving force to propel it.

"Third Quartet" is a good place to start exploring John Abercrombie's later work. It has all of the naunces and textures of an Abcercrombie album but with more of a chamber jazz leaning. Very highly recommended.

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