Working with what you have

I never really thought about this until this last weekend when I was lucky enough to get the latest album by Eberhard Weber. It’s the second album which he has produced solo since he had a stroke a few years ago. Before that he had a long career as a jazz musician playing double bass both solo, and in bands such as his own called Colours and the Jan Garbarek Band. He also worked with the likes of Kate Bush. His sound is spectacularly distinctive!

When I heard in 2007 that he had suffered a stroke I was really sad to hear that it was unlikely that he would play the double bass again. Having seen him three times live over the years performing with Jan Garbarek, it was awful to think that we would never be able to see that experience live again. Whenever he performed with Garbarek he was always given a slot in the middle of the concert for a solo performance. Typically, this would last for about 10 minutes and he would use echo pedals to build up layers of improvised sound until he had created a new musical piece. Not only was it inspiring to watch, the sound he produced was astonishing and immensely beautiful.

So, I come to the title of this piece. Back in 2012, Eberhart Weber released an album of new material. It was developed from concert recordings over the years which were made of those solo performances. On that first album, “Resumé”,  he took those recordings and blended in some new contributions from Jan Garbarek. For this new album, “Encore”, he has worked on another 13 pieces and added the flugelhorn of Ack Van Rooyen. Weber also adds keyboards and piano. For him now, the recording studio has become the instrument for him to work with.

Of course, fans like me will be so happy to see new material by him. It shows how with a positive attitude, we can find ways to work with what we have. There is always a way through. The album is stunning and merits listening through headphones to capture the subtlety of the pieces that he has produced.

And here’s as an interesting postscript that links to the last post on this blog, where I was writing about the work of Robert Wyatt. it’s perhaps interesting to note that Wyatt also had to rethink how he made music after falling from a window and ending up in a wheelchair unable to play drums.

So, a theme developing – one about how we look to make what we can with what we have. Sometimes the restrictions that life places upon us, are the very thing that pushes us to be more creative.