ECM: Steve Kuhn - Wisteria new CD:

Just out, a new CD from Steve Kuhn "Wisteria" on ECM. Kuhn as most know became somewhat famous for preceding McCoy Tyner in John Coltrane's first quartet, a very brief tenure that ended up with his being fired, obstensibly for musical incompatability, but likely more due to racial causes.

Kuhn went on to have a strong career recording for ECM in the 70's and 80's, after struggling through the 60's (producing two stone classics - October Suite on Impulse with McFarland, and the trio recording Watch What Happens on MPS). The late 80's through 90's were a less fertile period, Kuhn producing many fine but uninspired recordings in a rather traditional setting, and in the last decade, has produced a series of trio recordings of primarily straight played standards for Japanese label Venus (who have the most obnoxious compressed sound of any jazz label ever), and also a number of excellent recordings for ECM which have found him at a technical and creative peak, recovering in his later years the adventurous and creative spirit of his earlier ECM recordings, a new found freedom in his creative thinking combined with maturity.

The best is the latest, Wisteria. What elevates this record from very good to great is the presence of Steve Swallow on bass - electric bass at that. A varied program of mostly up tempo and mid tempo numbers, Kuhn is superb, his harmonic sense, use of time and space, a sparkling touch is pushed by Swallow's bass - walking the Fender on uptempo numbers, driving the excellent Joey Baron, and being thoroughly in the pocket while still showing that he came through the rock and fusion era.

The recording is superb. The CD benefits greatly from a claning with Liquid Resolution  from Extreme AV that takes some obvious coating off the disc and really opens up the aidio, particularly the bass.A totally recommended disc, jazz is alive and well with records like this in 2012.