Hommage à Eberhard Weber (2015)/ SWR Big Band & Pat Metheny & Jan Garbarek & Gary Burton & Scott Colley & Danny Gottlieb & Paul McCandless & Michael Gibbs & Helge Sunde

Drawn from jubilee concerts at Stuttgart's Theaterhaus in January 2015 to mark the 75th birthday of great German bassist Eberhard Weber, this is a remarkable live album incorporating big band arrangements of Weber compositions as well as striking new music from old friends Pat Metheny and Jan Garbarek. The concerts centered around 'Hommage', a specially commissioned 35-minute suite by Pat Metheny, with whom Weber had played and recorded back in the 1970s. Featuring Metheny, the SWR Big Band conducted by Helge Sunde, Gary Burton, bassist Scott Colley and Danny Gottlieb on drums, this extended composition is built upon recordings of solo improvisations by Weber, subtly orchestrated by the guitarist. The programme is opened by Jan Garbarek, Weber's associate of many years, with powerful and inventive soprano sax improvisations over loops of Weber's bass. Eberhard played with the Jan Garbarek Group from 1982 to 2007, and their essential compatibility is evident once again in these 'Résumé Variations'. (bron: ECM)