Abercrombie John: First Quartet 1978-80 (Rem)

This 3-CD set with recordings from 1978 to 1980, issued in ECM"'s acclaimed Old & New Masters series, returns some historically-important material to the catalogue, namely the albums Arcade, Abercrombie Quartet and M. The quartet with Richie Beirach, George Mraz and Peter Donald was the group in which guitarist John Abercrombie defined some priorities, moving away from a jazz-rock period into a more spacious, impressionistic and original music. Abercrombie and pianist Beirach had a strong musical affinity as improvisers and wrote almost all of the band"'s book between them. Bassist George Mraz and drummer Peter Donald provided imaginative and creative support, with Mraz also penning a couple of tunes. For this edition the recordings - made in Oslo and Ludwigsburg and produced by Manfred Eicher - were newly remastered from original analog sources. It"'s a first appearance on CD for these discs in most world territories (Arcade was briefly available on compact disc in Japan) and re-release of these titles has been much requested by followers of both Abercrombie and Beirach as well as ECM collectors.