The U.S. jazz bassist Marc Johnson is a universally highly regarded. Highlights of his career to date have been his involvement in the Woody Herman big band, in pianist Bill Evans' last trio and in Stan Getz's band. In 1985 he began recording under his own name on ECM, among others (Bass Desires with guitarists Bill Frisell and John Scofield and drummer Peter Erskine, and with the same group Bass Desires also Second Sight in 1987). With his new album Overpass, recorded in 2018 at Nacena Studios in São Paulo, Johnson makes a crucial and intriguing contribution to ECM's solo bass recording series on acoustic bass.
Overpass includes eight songs, five of which are originals by Johnson. In the album opener, "Freedom Jazz Dance," penned by Eddie Harris, Marc Johnson shines with his warm and clearly drawn bass sound, which here forms the basis for an infectious groove upon which the tune's melody develops. "Nardis," which goes back to Miles Davis but is best known in its arrangement by Bill Evans' trio with Marc Johnson on bass, is taken up again here by the bassist, who says: “‘Nardis’ is where solo bass explorations all started for me, and this performance distills much of the conception and vocabulary I am using throughout this album.”
Marc Johns also stays on the nostalgia track with Alex North's "Love Theme from Spartacus," a piece that was also on the Evans Trio's Menu card. "Samurai Fly" comes from the bassist himself". Here he deftly combines Eastern and he Western timbres, which are made to blossom by a flexible bowing. Johnson's music is open to many influences from a variety of sources, and "And Strike Each Tuneful String" is a good example of the organic style that Marc Johnson has always cultivated like no other: ”In the early 80s, I made a conscious choice to try to bring something primal to my sound and conception of playing. I discovered a field recording made in the late 60s of musicians from Burundi. One or two tracks in particular from that recording caught my attention. The music was played on an instrument called an Inanga, which is a hollowed-out log strung with ox tendons for strings. The strings were plucked in various patterns, and the earthy sound and repetitiveness was quite hypnotic. With a nod towards that reference, this piece is an improvisation and short reprise of ‘Prayer Beads,’ which appeared on the second Bass Desires album.”
Overpass proves to be an exceedingly inventive solo bass album that makes a fascinating contribution to ECM's solo bass recording series. The recording quality of the album is, as you would expect from ECM, top notch.
Marc Johnson, double bass