Celestial french horn-driven ambient jazz. Quintessential 1980’s ECM record, unknown to me until very recently. In the vein of Eberhard Weber or Dawn,on the same label.
Faces LP, and god knows I have been rummaging through the ECM crates for almost 15 years now (and that includes a full year in Germany, digging constantly). Led by American French horn player John Clark, Faces is his only release on the label, but still, it is quintessential ECM to me (or at least what I’m looking for in ECM’s catalogue) : sparse arrangements of vibraphone, drums, cello and a celestial french horn, state-of-the-art recordings, trance jazz tunes that never explode in annoying chorus.
I don’t know if you remember Michael Mann’s Heat OST, but that’s pretty much how this Faces LP sounds like. As often with ECM, the artwork is perfect, and rightfully echoes the crepuscular nature of the music. Munich bliss. (VG+ / VG+)
