TERJE RYPDAL — Odyssey (review)

Album · 1975 · Fusion

4/5 · 2024-12-29
Moshkiae

Third Stream, or jazz and classical music ... The combination of these events is ... up to interpretation, but generally there are jazz folks that are playing with a symphony orchestra. The end result is something that was considered new by Gunther Schuller, around the late 1950's, and something that helped add to the listening palette all around, and specially important for jazz folks, who for a long time were keen on making sure that jazz got a leg up on music, instead of it being just some pop kind of music.

Modern music came about for its ability to free form and try to break the shackles of the rigidity of a lot of classical music and scores. Jazz was, originally, a title that was given to music that had more freedom, and was not considered classical, or important, because of the personal style in the music. One could say, that classical music tends to diminish the individuality in favor of an idea about the music ... jazz is almost totally opposite that since it is usual, for anyone to think up ideas about what the music is, or represents ... I like to suggest it is like the wind ... it's just the wind ... and we don't define it beyond that!

Terje Rypdal, at least for the work he did on "ODYSSEY", (not based on stories btw), is Terje's personal experience. To be more accurate, to hear his guitar experimenting on top of music, that had some jazz leanings, but in many ways, sounds different, even allowing us to think that this might be a riff for a pop song ... and here, we get surprised ... it doesn't break into a "song" ... it continues allowing the guitar its freedom.

Terje Rypdal was doing this some 15 years after that idea was defined, and it is possible/likely that he might have perfected it better, even though one got the notion that it was strictly an improvisation from beginning to the end, which is not something that we worry about in the jazz culture at all. When hearing "ODYSSEY", it does not feel like something new is being tried out, although it is possible that Manfred Eicher (ECM RECORDS) probably thought this was far out and specially different from what he was doing with his label, that was infused with a lot of experiments at the time, many of which fit the European styles of music adventures ... with a large history of classical music, the evolution of jazz was very natural in Europe, whereas in America it was more individual and solo related, and not close to anything considered classical until later. And then, in America, we get someone going a hundred percent against the norm, and the pattern in America ... we got Miles Davis who blew out the house, and likely cleaned up his free form in Europe, where he knew he could do anything he wanted.

ODYSSEY is a wonderful album, but something that might take some good ear tuning to be appreciated. The only thing that is clear, and easier to pick up, is that everything in this album is but a background to what Terje Rypdal will do with his guitar, or any other instrument. Terje is joined by a strong organ (Brynjulf Blix) player, and a bass guitar (Sveinung Hovensjo) and drums (Svein Christiansen) and occasionally a trombone (Tornbjorn Sunde).

It is an interesting touch ... the background is a quiet, meditative like sound, that contrasts the guitar really well, but the surprise is that ... it works ... it doesn't sound odd or out of place, and the pieces are very nice and enjoyable, even though some folks are going to say this is not exactly jazz, though the background certainly is ... and you almost could say that Terje Rypdal is doing a really good impression of Miles Davis with a totally different instrument, but no less expressive in any way at all.

And this album is his 6th ... which would suggest that Terje is very comfortable with what he did, though I can not say (and will check it out) his earlier material.

The special pieces here are the long ones ... Midnight, Adagio and Fare Well, all stand out a lot. A later release had another long piece ... Rolling Stone which was even longer and I believe it was on the LP when it first came out as a double, though not on the first CD released in 1988.

A very special album, and in many ways, I would even suggest a must have in one's jazz collection, specially as the mix of classical and jazz was not as visible at the time of its release.

Outstanding album. A must have for folks that are jazz'd out there! Think of Miles on electric guitar ... and then close your eyes while listening!