Mathias Eick: The Door

Track

The Door

Artist

Mathias Eick (trumpet, guitar, vibes)

CD

The Door (ECM 2059)

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Musicians:

Mathias Eick (trumpet, guitar, vibes),

Jon Balke (piano, Fender Rhodes), Audun Erlien (electric bass, guitar), Audun Klieve (drums, percussion)

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Composed by Mathias Eick

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Recorded: September 2007

Albumcovermathiaseick-thedoor

Rating: 90/100 (learn more)

The first minute or so of "The Door" finds Mathias Eick's band implying, then shaping, the composition's structure. Just as it fully crystallizes, thanks to Jon Balke's staccato piano echoes and Auden Erlien's melodic outlines, Eick steps in with his trumpet to complete the thoughts set up before him. With a sparseness and economy of presentation, Eick's music draws a fine line across the decades, connecting musics as disparate as Eberhard Weber and Miles Davis. The key idea, playing just the right notes, is held in stark relief as the tempo picks up and Balke supports Eick with a series of exhilarating chromatic runs. When that last trumpet note fades, you'll find yourself thinking that this was the quickest eight minutes you've ever experienced.

Reviewer: Mark Saleski

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  • 1 James // Oct 15, 2008 at 05:59 PM
    You're right on about the "sparseness and economy of presentation". It's quite refreshing. Can anyone suggest more material like this?
  • 2 jean the mad jazzy cat // Nov 12, 2008 at 02:34 AM
    An awesomely excellent record by Mathias Eick and his fellow musicians. The CD includes big names in the business with the likes of Jon Balke and Audun Kleive -- ECM's Manfred Eicher producing, no less. Great playing, with warmth and with and spacious sound; a kind of intimate atmosphere not unlike what you might hear on the Wasilewski Trio's "January" or the otherwise splendid "Shades of Jade" by Marc Johnson et al. Eick is an adept, a most capable musician in his own right, just a touch perhaps in the vein of a younger Enrico Rava (late 1980s?), albeit admitedly different in "style". For all purposes, I grant this album a perfect note of 5/5 and that says everything about it you should know for now: my advice is take notice and grab it while it is available, I bet you won't regret.
  • 3 DARBITT // Nov 13, 2008 at 02:30 PM
    Supremely wonderful album,never heard anything like that bfore!