Bill Bruford with Ralph Towner & Eddie Gomez - 1997 "If Summer Had Its Ghosts"

On If Summer Had Its Ghosts, a primarily acoustic trio recording, drummer Bill Bruford, bassist Eddie Gómez, and pianist/guitarist Ralph Towner create some lush, wondrous, spontaneous and melodic music. It has jazz roots, improvisational branches, and elfin extensions. There's no gimmickry or pretension, although Bruford does add some sampled colors, and Towner overdubs his instruments as well as throwing in a pinch of electronic keyboards. What you basically hear is Bruford's newest and freshest music, interpreted and extrapolated upon by three virtuosos in mellifluous interactive conversation. At their most swinging, as on the lively, four/four, tick-tock, light rimshot, mid-tempo swing of the title track, they are telepathic, with Towner effortlessly switching from acoustic 12-string to piano and Gómez laying down soulful, full, deep bass punctuations. In a more ethnocentric bag, Bruford samples mbira for the folk-ish "Thistledown," Indonesian bells for the minimalistic, dancing "Splendor Among Shadows," and clay pots for "Silent Pool"; Towner emulates Peruvian wooden pan flutes on his synth for "The Ballad of Vilcabamba," replete with ostinato bass and quiet electronic handclaps. The drummer pays homage to Joe Morello's classic five/four "Take Five" drum solo on "Some Other Time" (not the standard) with an accent on the fourth beat, while slowly grooving in six/eight on the ballad "Forgiveness." "Never the Same Way Once" (an old Shelly Manne adage) is the showstopper, a time-shifting, bluesy, swing to bop and back again rhythm with the spritely Chick Corea-like piano-guitar melody that is completely unpredictable and delightful. It reflects an easygoing, loose, carefree attitude that defines this entire session. If summer really does have its ghosts, they would evoke echoes of spring, full of renewal, hope, and joyful anticipation. It is that spirit with which this music is made, and it is some of greatest music, collectively or otherwise, that these three have conjured in their lengthy, storied careers.

Here's yet another excellent album among many Bill Bruford has been associated with. He's the only ex-member of Yes to have produced consistently high-quality work for the past 30 years. Bruford may not have the super-chops of a Colaiuta, Weckl or Gadd but he's more clever than all of them. Far from being "out-of-his-league" as another reviewer suggests, he creates his own league and unique field of play for his formidable accomplices. He could easily try to show off with flash or worse yet try to play like a typical jazz drummer and have this record sound like so many hundreds of others and put all the pressure on Towner to make it work. Instead he penetrates these tunes like a Swiss watch that can melt and bend as in a Dali painting. Bruford sticks firmly to his calculated and finely-tuned un-loose style but this is the restraint he needs to slowly unwind his drumming art besides providing a unique strict-timed background for Towner and Gomez, especially Towner to feed off. This makes the record sound 'one-of-a-kind,' a perfect fusion and blend of styles rather than tied to any one discipline. All that wouldn't matter if the compositions weren't excellent and here you have them. Every track is a great piece played with consummate skill by all three players with just the right amount of looseness and improvisation to maximize its potential, if not quite maximizing it to the transcendent masterpiece level you might hear on Towner's "Solstice." The last track is kind of out-of-place with the rest of the material and a bit more rock-oriented and closer to the late-70s Bruford-Band material but still a fun listen and nice way to close the album with a bit of a bang. The sound quality on the album is way above the average and on par with ECM recordings although without the often suffocating sameness of high quality recording you hear on some of the ECM albums.

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Track listing:

01     If Summer Had Its Ghosts     6:20
02     Never The Same Way Once     5:04
03     Forgiveness     5:15
04     Somersaults     3:27
05     Thistledown     4:11
06     The Ballad Of Vilcabamba     5:00
07     Amethyst (For Carmen)     4:18
08     Splendour Among Shadows     4:52
09     Some Other Time     3:01
10     Silent Pool     3:35
11     Now Is The Next Time     4:03

Personnel:

    Bill Bruford - Drums, Percussion
    Eddie Gomez - Bass
    Ralph Towner - Twelve-String Guitar, Classical Guitar, Piano, Keyboards [Electronic Keyboards]