Towner Ralph: Solstice

180 gram vinyl. * Deutscher Schallplattenpreis 1976. Down Beat: ""Solstice inspires through its expressive openness. revealing depth of texture, nuance and meaning."" Perfect Sound Forever: ""The LP is not only one of the moodiest ever published by ECM, but by anyone."" Solstice, recorded 1974, belongs to the great early production projects of ECM, with a new band formed in the studio. It"'s the first of Towner"'s recorded encounters with the European players, and this US-Norwegian-German quartet has a character all its own. Ralph"'s synthesis of classical guitar technique and jazz improvisational skills inspires all participants on now-famous tunes including ""Nimbus"" and ""Oceanus"". (Many future associations grew out of this meeting, including the Garbarek/Towner collaboration on Dis, and the integration of Eberhard Weber into the Jan Garbarek Group, and of Jon Christensen into Weber"'s Colours band.)