Label: ECM Records (US), ECM 1219
Style: Jazz, Contemporary Classical
Country: Elkhart, Indiana, U.S. (March 4, 1941 - January 8, 2021)
Time: 46:27
Format: Flac Tracks 16/44,1 kHz
Size: 209 Mb
Cellist
David Darling has had a long, if sporadic, association with ECM,
quietly forging—either under the guise of solo artist or buried in an
album’s roster—some of the label’s most lyrical atmospheres. With
Cycles, however, Darling magnified his sound-world through the
inimitable talents of Jan Garbarek and Collin Walcott in a space both
selfless and uniquely his own. Add to that the astonishing pianism of
Steve Kuhn and the depth of Arild Andersen on bass, and you get what is,
to this listener at least, one of ECM’s finest celestial alignments.
While
I am tempted to give my usual track-by-track impressions, here the
album’s title clues us in on another way me might listen to it: that is,
as an ever-roving caravan without need of maps or guides. As it stands,
Cycles is a bubble of possibility that only expands with every listen.
In its opening strains, we kneel atop a cliff of unraveling. Darling’s
needlepoint brings light to fullest dark, breathing through Walcott’s
tabla and Garbarek’s shawm-like expectorations. Those fluid horsehairs
sing like portals, beginning and ending in the same draw. Harmonies
linger as afterthoughts of infinite space. From nebulae to star and back
to billowing gauze, the music flows into rivers of light—quiet,
intense, forgiving. Grooves flicker into life, voices settle into
afterlife. Cello and sitar sing into one another, while Kuhn’s wafting
fragrances remind us of what it felt like to be on Earth.
Were I to
single out one track, however, from this multivalent exhalation, it
would have to be “Fly,” a brooding intertwining of cello and saxophone
that is a Mt. Everest in the ECM landscape. Garbarek emits some of his
most satoric playing here, floating ever skyward. He is a lantern hung
in the clouds, a riddle whose denouement only reveals further mystery.
The
stellar playing throughout is only enhanced by the sound. The
engineering on Cycles is pristine beyond measure and raised the bar of
the label’s usual auditory standards. To prattle on any more would ruin
the effect. Suffice it to say: don’t miss this one.
(ecmreviews.com/2011/11/08/cycles/)
01. Cycle Song (07:10)
02. Cycle One: Namaste (04:11)
03. Fly (09:25)
04. Ode (06:55)
05. Cycle Two: Trio (05:30)
06. Cycle Three: Quintet and Coda (07:52)
07. Jessica's Sunwheel (05:21)
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