Home » Jazz Musicians » John Abercrombie

John Abercrombie

Over a career spanning more than 40 years and nearly 50 albums, John Abercrombie established himself as one the masters of jazz guitar. Favoring unusual sounds (he played electronic mandolin on McCoy Tyner's 1993 album 4x4) and nontraditional ensembles (recent quartet recordings have included violinist Mark Feldman), Abercrombie was a restless experimenter, working firmly in the jazz tradition while pushing the boundaries of meter and harmony.” Born on December 16, 1944 in Port Chester, New York, Abercrombie grew up in Greenwich, Connecticut, where he began playing the guitar at age 14. Like many teenagers at the time, he started out imitating Chuck Berry licks.

But it was the bluesy music of Barney Kessel that attracted him to jazz. Abercrombie enrolled at Boston's Berklee College of Music and teamed up with other students to play local clubs and bars. One of those clubs, Paul's Mall, was connected to a larger club next door, the Jazz Workshop, where Abercrombie ducked in during his free time to watch John Coltrane and Thelonious Monk.

Abercrombie's appearances at Paul's Mall led to several fortuitous meetings. Organist Johnny Hammond Smith spotted the young Abercrombie and invited him to go on tour while he was still a student. During the same period, Ambercrombie also met the Brecker Brothers, who invited him to become a new part of their group Dreams, which would become one the prominent jazz-rock bands of the late 1960s and early 1970s. Abercrombie appears on the group's eponymous debut album.

After graduating from Berklee, Abercrombie headed to New York, where he quickly became one of New York's most in-demand session players. He recorded with Gil Evans, Gato Barbieri, and Barry Miles, to name a few. He was also a regular with Chico Hamilton?s group. “

But it was in Billy Cobham's band, which also featured the Brecker brothers, that Abercrombie first started to build a following. He was featured on several of Cobham's albums, including Crosswinds, Total Eclipse and Shabazz, all of which staked new ground in fusion jazz. The group was booked into large concert halls and arenas, appearing on bills with such top rock attractions as the Doobie Brothers. It was not, however, the direction Abercrombie had hoped his career would go. “One night we appeared at the Spectrum in Phildelphia and I thought, what am I doing here?” he said. “It just didn’t compute.”

Read more

Tags

7
Album Review

Jack DeJohnette: Sorcery

Read "Sorcery" reviewed by Rob Garratt


Which Jack DeJohnette is best known? The subtle sticksmith at the heart of Keith Jarrett's Standards Trio, perhaps? Probably the heavyweight hitter driving electric-era Miles Davis' '70s sonic brew. Maybe the percussive upstart propelling Charles Lloyd to crossover flower-power fame? Or even the fearless bandleader behind the ever-thrilling Special Edition band ... At age 81, DeJohnette can (still) fairly claim to be the most in-demand jazz drummer on the planet. But even the most studious acolyte ...

5
Album Review

Jack DeJohnette: Sorcery

Read "Sorcery" reviewed by Scott Gudell


Jack DeJohnette gets around. The Chicago born drummer was drawn to R&B and bebop in the late 1950s and eventually toyed with a more avant-garde jazz sound when he spent some time with the esoteric Sun Ra. It seems like DeJohnette played in the big leagues almost from the beginning since, by the time he moved to New York City in the mid-1960s, he was teaming up with other monsters of jazz such as Keith Jarrett and Charles Lloyd. Several ...

19
Liner Notes

John Abercrombie: The First Quartet

Read "John Abercrombie: The First Quartet" reviewed by John Kelman


With the release of Arcade (1979), Abercrombie Quartet (1980) and M (1981), John Abercrombie's entire ECM discography as a leader is finally available on CD. Looking back at these albums and their position in his oeuvre, they are revealed as seminal documents of Abercrombie's arrival as a distinctive writer, improvising guitarist and bandleader, delivering on the promise of his first two ECM recordings under his own name, Timeless (1975) and Characters (1977). Abercrombie's subsequent career has, in many ways, been ...

13
Album Review

John Abercrombie and Don Thompson: Yesterdays

Read "Yesterdays" reviewed by Don Phipps


The late John Abercrombie's outstanding and extensive recorded legacy includes two duet albums with fellow guitarist Ralph Towner, Sargasso Sea (ECM 2008) and Five Years Later (ECM, 2014), four Gateway trio albums (with bassist Dave Holland and drummer Jack DeJohnette), and three Baseline Trio albums (with bassist Hein Van de Geyn and drummer Joe LaBarbera). Like those albums, Yesterdays finds him at his guitar-picking best, collaborating on this one with bassist Don Thompson. Recorded live in 1992 at ...

22
Film Review

Open Land: Meeting John Abercrombie

Read "Open Land: Meeting John Abercrombie" reviewed by John Kelman


John Abercrombie Open Land: Meeting John AbercrombieMusic Heritage Productions / ECM Records2018 It's almost a year to the day since the world lost John Abercrombie and, for many of his fans, that loss remains something still deeply and palpably felt. A guitarist who managed to be instantly recognizable without relying on many of the signatures that help identify most guitarists--certain approaches to phrasing and melody and specific tonal approaches amongst them--Abercrombie may not have garnered ...

10
Film Review

Open Land: Meeting John Abercrombie

Read "Open Land: Meeting John Abercrombie" reviewed by Mark Sullivan


John Abercrombie Open Land: Meeting John Abercrombie Music Heritage Productions / ECM Records 2018 Named after John Abercrombie's 1999 ECM album of the same name (by his trio with organist Dan Wall and drummer Adam Nussbaum, plus guests trumpeter Kenny Wheeler, violinist Mark Feldman and saxophonist Joe Lovano), Open Land finds the guitarist late in his career. Much of the ninety minute run time shows him talking about his life as a jazz guitarist and ...

Film Review

Open Land: Meeting John Abercrombie

Read "Open Land: Meeting John Abercrombie" reviewed by Mario Calvitti


Arno Oehri & Oliver Primus Open Land -Meeting John Abercrombie ECM Records 2018 Già presentato al pubblico europeo e statunitense attraverso alcune proiezioni in festival cinematografici, il documentario sul chitarrista John Abercrombie approda anche in DVD grazie alla distribuzione della ECM, la label per la quale Abercrombie ha inciso gran parte della sua produzione discografica. Il lavoro, che ha richiesto alcuni anni di lavoro da parte della coppia formata dal regista Arno Oehri (artista ...

Read more articles
2

Birthday

Jazz Musician of the Day: John Abercrombie

Jazz Musician of the Day: John Abercrombie

Source: Michael Ricci

All About Jazz is celebrating John Abercrombie's birthday today!

Over a career spanning more than 40 years and nearly 50 albums, John Abercrombie established himself as one the masters of jazz guitar. Favoring unusual sounds (he played electronic mandolin on McCoy Tyner's 1993 album 4x4) and nontraditional ensembles (recent quartet recordings have included violinist Mark Feldman), Abercrombie was a restless experimenter, working firmly in the jazz tradition while pushing the boundaries of meter and harmony.” Born on December 16, 1944 ...

Birthday

Jazz Musician of the Day: John Abercrombie

Jazz Musician of the Day: John Abercrombie

Source: Michael Ricci

All About Jazz is celebrating John Abercrombie's birthday today!

Over a career spanning more than 40 years and nearly 50 albums, John Abercrombie has established himself as one the masters of jazz guitar. Favoring unusual sounds (he played electronic mandolin on McCoy Tyner's 1993 album 4x4) and nontraditional ensembles (recent quartet recordings have included violinist Mark Feldman), Abercrombie is a restless experimenter, working firmly in the jazz tradition while pushing the boundaries of meter and harmony." Born on December 16, ...

Birthday

Jazz Musician of the Day: John Abercrombie

Jazz Musician of the Day: John Abercrombie

Source: Michael Ricci

All About Jazz is celebrating John Abercrombie's birthday today!

Over a career spanning more than 40 years and nearly 50 albums, John Abercrombie has established himself as one the masters of jazz guitar. Favoring unusual sounds (he played electronic mandolin on McCoy Tyner's 1993 album 4x4) and nontraditional ensembles (recent quartet recordings have included violinist Mark Feldman), Abercrombie is a restless experimenter, working firmly in the jazz tradition while pushing the boundaries of meter and harmony." Born on December 16, ...

Birthday

Jazz Musician of the Day: John Abercrombie

Jazz Musician of the Day: John Abercrombie

Source: Michael Ricci

All About Jazz is celebrating John Abercrombie's birthday today!

Over a career spanning more than 40 years and nearly 50 albums, John Abercrombie has established himself as one the masters of jazz guitar. Favoring unusual sounds (he played electronic mandolin on McCoy Tyner's 1993 album 4x4) and nontraditional ensembles (recent quartet recordings have included violinist Mark Feldman), Abercrombie is a restless experimenter, working firmly in the jazz tradition while pushing the boundaries of meter and harmony." Born on December 16, ...

1

Birthday

Jazz Musician of the Day: John Abercrombie

Jazz Musician of the Day: John Abercrombie

Source: Michael Ricci


Birthday

Jazz Musician of the Day: John Abercrombie

Jazz Musician of the Day: John Abercrombie

Source: Michael Ricci


5

Obituary

John Abercrombie: 1944-2017

John Abercrombie: 1944-2017

Source: Universal Music Group

From Tina Pelikan at ECM Records It is with great sadness that we announce the passing of the great guitarist John Abercrombie. John Abercrombie, one of the great improvisers, died on August 22, after a long illness. He will be much missed, for his sensitive musicality, his good companionship, and his dry humor which enhanced many a session. He leaves behind an extensive discography which will be studied as long as people continue to play jazz guitar. John made his ...

Birthday

Jazz Musician of the Day: John Abercrombie

Jazz Musician of the Day: John Abercrombie

Source: Michael Ricci


1

Birthday

Jazz Musician of the Day: John Abercrombie

Jazz Musician of the Day: John Abercrombie

Source: Michael Ricci


1

Education

Music Education Monday: John Abercrombie on jazz guitar improvisation

Music Education Monday: John Abercrombie on jazz guitar improvisation

Source: St. Louis Jazz Notes by Dean Minderman

While guitarist John Abercrombie was in jny: St. Louis last week to lead his quartet in a sold-out performance for the Jazz at Holmes series at Washington University, he and pianist Marc Copland also did an afternoon master class on the Wash U campus. Fortunately for those who missed out, a while back Abercrombie recorded an instructional video for Homespun Tapes about his concepts for jazz guitar improvisation. That video has found its way onto YouTube and can be seen ...

Photos

Music

Recordings: As Leader | As Sideperson

Sorcery

Craft Recordings
2023

buy

Out and Out Jazz

Arkadia Records
2022

buy

What If

Postcards
2021

buy

Yesterdays

Cornerstone Records Inc.
2019

buy

Up and Coming

ECM Records
2017

buy

The First Quartet

ECM Records
2015

buy

Videos

Similar

Get more of a good thing!

Our weekly newsletter highlights our top stories, our special offers, and upcoming jazz events near you.