Saturday, November 28, 2009

Terje Rypdal: Odyssey


Today´s classic is Terje Rypdal´s "Odyssey" (ECM), a double LP from 1975. The band is Terje Rypdal (guitar, soprano saxophone and string ensemble (!)), Torbjørn Sunde (trombone), Brynjulf Blix (organ), Sveinung Hovensjø (bass) and Svein Christiansen (drums). Manfred Eicher and Jan Erik Kongshaug is involved, no surprises there, and the cover photo is by Giuseppe Pino.
I had listened to, and liked the sound of Rypdal before I bought this one ( with Jan Garbarek, in Dream and on the solo album "Bleak house"), but I immediately fell for this one, with Hovensjø´s rock steady bass and Sunde´s beautiful trombone. It´s almost a taste of Pink Floyd in here sometimes ("Atom Heart Mother" ?), but of course the main factor is the icy, clear sound of Rypdal´s guitar. Sorry, but I must have read too much about the Nordic wintery sound of the Norwegian ECM artists, and may almost see the glaciers move when I listen to this. Rypdal is not a hot blues guitarist, for sure!
This album has been out on CD, without the long track "Rolling Stone" (24 minutes), but I believe it is hard to get hold of these days. You may download "Odyssey" from iTunes and eMusic, but even they lack the missing track!

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