High Above The Clouds

In my younger music geek moments I used to purposely try to find something that I had no idea what it was all about. I was quickly saved by some friend who had far greater knowledge then I on the album I was picking. One day I went through a few LP's at a used record store in Mass with a friend when another friend from the record store I frequent came in. I quickly pretended that I was looking something highbrow when he spotted me from afar. He asked what I was looking for and I quickly and mistakenly said nothing. I looked like the kid who got caught cheating on the test. He saw I was in Jazz, but he knew I was in the wrong area for that. He asked me if he could make a suggestion. While looking for it he asked me if I liked that Gateway trio album with John Abercrombie, Jack DeJohnette, and Dave Holland. I told him that I thought all three musicians were stellar. I think he was searching for clues. Looking back he could have gone with more John Abercrombie albums or he could have taken the route of Miles Davis electric period.

He asked other questions to narrow his search for me. I still was wondering where he was headed with these questions. When I saw that he passed through all the Miles Davis albums I knew he was up to somewhere else. We could not find what we were looking for. I bought a few things and he told me to come see him at the record store he works at on Monday. He said he would have a tape for me to listen to and if he found the LP he would give me that to keep and also listen to.



When I brought this tape home I expected it possibly to sound like world music. After all sitar and tabla were included in this album. What I did not know was it was more like a World Jazz with some great signature ECM sound. It was something that was not typical for 1976 or for that matter in regular music. The Gateway trio like I discussed in one of my early blogs is amazing and the way they can do things like no one can is quickly shown here. They do their very best at many things and hear them support Collin Wallcott is extraordinary.

The album bookends with Collin and Gateway playing together. I really wish there was more of these fruitful collaborations. But what makes the album great is the fact that some of the albums feature with Collin playing with John Abercrombie or Dave Holland. Some of them feature Sitar and upright bass or Tabla and upright bass. Some are guitar and sitar or tabla. There is even one with Guitar, upright bass and Tabla. These pieces more then likely will never be played like this again. This is not to say these are bad, but because Collin was such a visionary. Really how many can you say put Sitar in Jazz. He added some unique sounds to Miles Davis's On The Corner LP.


(above photo is Collin Walcott in the center and Don Cherry on the left and Nana Vasconcelos on the right otherwise known as Codona trio)

Once again I pick a unique one out of the bag. You should as well, this album is full of great surprises and stuff that any world music and Jazz music fan would enjoy! It's too bad that he died in 1984 because he surely would have been more famous in the World Music genre or in Jazz. His talent for me is one of the greatest musicians out there. If you get this CD make sure you hear the influence on some great musicians today. Enjoy!