Enrico Rava – The Pilgrim and the Stars – ECM 1063, 39:45 (1975 reissue) ****:
(Enrico Rava – trumpet; John Abercrombie – guitar; Palle Danielsson – double-bass; Jon Christensen – drums)
Although Italian trumpeter Enrico Rava has issued many albums under his own name that have been released stateside, this is the first time his debut has been distributed on compact disc in the United States. It’s long overdue, and a welcome addition to ECM’s Touchstone Series.
When this album was initially released in 1975, Rava was convening his solo career, having spent time with Steve Lacy, Gato Barbieri and Carla Bley, thus this inaugural solo effort came as a stellar proceeding for those who embarked on Rava’s multifaceted jazz journey. First, this undertaking demonstrates the nucleus of Rava’s artistic values that have been sown through the ensuing decades. Secondly, it showcases Rava’s instrumental prowess. And third, it brings to attention Rava’s expansive and wide-ranging creativity. There’s good reason Rava fans consider The Pilgrim and the Stars a landmark as well as a high point in Rava’s discography.
Listeners should note that, although this recording contains some of the reflective qualities connected with ECM, the seven tracks are often groove oriented, with touches of early ‘70s Miles Davis (and all that represents), elements reminiscent of Don Cherry’s formalist anarchy, and some cool jazz reference points that include pre-fusion Davis as well as Chet Baker. Thus, there’s more here than the typical Euro-jazz associated with ECM: contemplative but also experimental, unperturbed but also at times fervent.
Rava assembled a dexterous band for The Pilgrim and the Stars. Even though guitarist John Abercrombie’s solo output has been a patchwork of electric and acoustic tidings, here he is firmly in the Sonny Sharrock and John McLaughlin rock style, plying fusion waters with dissonance, distortion and effects to craft an amplified but not overbearing sound. Double-bassist Palle Danielsson and drummer Jon Christensen provide a grounding to Rava and Abercrombie’s soloing, but are given space to display their rhythmic talents as well, particularly Christensen’s adept cymbal work.
The foursome opens with the longest piece, the title track opus that starts in a spatial and sparse manner, Danielsson quietly but fixedly pushing Rava along an explorative trajectory, subtly supported by Abercrombie’s guitar and Christensen’s drums. A few minutes later, though, the group turns up the heat with Abercrombie’s sustained six-string feedback, uncurbed energy and clamorous chromatic craftsmanship.
But eclecticism is preeminent, as evidenced by track two, the slyly simple and short acoustic guitar/trumpet duet “Parks,” built around Rava’s semi-opaque tone and Abercrombie’s Latinized and lightly swinging picking and strumming. Nothing else on the recording quite matches this conversational, comfortable intonation. Rava’s impressionistic side is also shown during dusky, sober “Pesce Naufrago,” an icy soundscape bolstered by Rava’s reverbed single-note jabs and Abercrombie’s underlying upper register fretwork.
Cut three, “Bella,” emulates the title track’s basic impulse, commencing with a comparably thoughtful beginning. Abercrombie sets the scene with some sympathetic chords and overtones, with Rava contributing the crux of the song’s feminine narrative. A couple of minutes in and Rava’s athletic horn sparks up this document, followed by Abercrombie’s TKO guitar solo, one of the most jagged and assertive applications of his rock-characterized skills he’s put onto tape. Around the 6:30 mark, Danielsson takes the spotlight, making use of his ample range while staying rooted to the tune’s rhythmic and harmonic development.
“Surprise Hotel” then rears its head, a two-minute-long, full-on nearly brutal freak-out evoking some of the more progressive and aggressive art rock of the mid-‘70s. It’s a definite mid-album wake-up call.
With that assault out of the way, Rava and his compatriots deliver the fluid, deliberately funky “By the Sea,” where Rava’s upwardly mobile minor-note trumpet prospers atop Abercrombie’s effects-delayed guitar, creating a hazy, early evening raga-ified intersection. Rava ends with “Blancasnow,” which has an extended free-flowing intro accented by Rava’s disconsolate horn and a slightly disordered emphasis from the rest of the band. Just after the four-minute mark, “Blancasnow” then shifts to an easy-going, mid-tempo groove that closes The Pilgrim and the Stars with a concise sense of sensuality.
As with most of the ECM catalog, The Pilgrim and the Stars is closely and pristinely recorded. Producer and label founder Manfred Eicher employs an intimate, warm timbre to even the coolest junctures, utilizing reverb to accentuate Rava’s atmospheric trumpet and generally both isolating and linking lead instruments at the same time. Abercrombie’s knurled outbursts and sometimes contorted gestures are layered respectfully and mixed so he rarely surmounts the other performers. Kudos also to the way Danielsson and Christensen are intertwined in the overall production, enhancing the rhythm section’s nuanced offerings.
TrackList:
1 The Pilgrim and the Stars
2 Parks
3 Bella
4 Pesce Naufrago
5 Surprise Hotel
6 By the Sea
7 Blancasnow
— Doug Simpson
