Eberhard Weber - Stages of a Long Journey

In March 2005, the city of Stuttgart celebrated the 65th birthday of native son Eberhard Weber with concerts at the Theaterhaus. A symphony orchestra and exceptional soloists convened to play new arrangements of some of Weber’s best known pieces in two sold-out concerts from which this album, Eberhard’s first live disc for ECM (and his first new ‘leader’ recording since 2000’s “Endless Days, ECM 1748), is drawn.

The album’s title “Stages Of A Long Journey” is also its programme, as the bassist-composer assembles around him players of importance in his career. The result is a work of strongly autobiographical flavour. If part of its appeal is nostalgic, the sentiment is not out of place at a birthday party, yet the most striking characteristic of the album is its vibrancy. These musicians, playing pieces which once belonged to the repertoire of Eberhard Weber’s 1970s Colours band, make them live in the moment. The core ensemble heard here is effectively the Jan Garbarek Group: Eberhard put his bandleader activities on hold in 1981 to join Garbarek, and has been with him ever since. But with Gary Burton added to the Garbarek/Weber/ Brüninghaus/Mazur nucleus, a setlist revolving around Weber tunes, and a fired-up Stuttgart audience in support, new discoveries can indeed be made.