Jazz
Recorded March 1986
Bill Bruford - Drums, Percussion,Simmons Drums, Synthesizer, Synthesizer Drums
David Torn - Guitar, Guitar (Acoustic), Guitar (Electric)
Mark Isham - Flugelhorn, Piccolo Trumpet, Synthesizer, Trumpet
Tony Levin - Chapman Stick, Synthesizer, Synthesizer Bass
* Andy Jackson - Engineer
* Dieter Rehm - Cover Design
* Jan Erik Kongshaug - Engineer
* Manfred Eicher - Producer
* Nick O'Donnell - Assistant Engineer
This 1987 production signifies experimental guitarist David Torn's second and final effort for Germany-based ECM Records. Here, the artist exhibits a sound, style, and methodology that are clearly his own, amid superb support by Bill Bruford (drums), Tony Levin (Chapman Stick/bass), and Mark Isham (trumpets). Torn generates gobs of excitement via his cunningly articulated phraseology, while also incorporating North African and East Indian modal concepts into these power-packed performances, fabricated upon climactic opuses and steamy crescendos. The guitarist's rippling harmonics and off-kilter voicings make for an engaging listening experience, especially when he trades sprightly fours with Isham atop the often-circuitous rhythms. Simply put, Cloud About Mercury looms as one of the finest jazz fusion dates of the '80s, and should be deemed a mandatory purchase for aficionados of this genre.
---Glenn Astarita, All Music Guide
David Torn
Active Decades: '80s, '90s and '00s
Genre: Jazz
Styles: Avant-Garde, Fusion, Experimental, Avant-Garde Jazz
New York-based composer, multi-instrumentalist, producer, singer, writer, and self-described "texturalist/guitarist" David Torn lent his distinctive style to numerous films and documentaries and collaborations. He worked with composers Howard Shore, Carter Burwell, and Ryuichi Sakamoto, as well as appeared on recordings from k.d. lang, David Bowie, Jim Carroll, Laurie Anderson, and a host of others. His solo works include Best Laid Plans (1984), Cloud About Mercury (1986), Door X (1990), Tripping Over God (1995), What Means Solid, Traveller? (1996), Splattercell's Oah (2000), the soundtrack to the Heath Ledger thriller The Order (2003), and the ECM release Prezens (2007).
---James Christopher Monger, All Music Guide |
