Hommage à Eberhard Weber is a live tribute album celebrating German double bassist and composer Eberhard Weber's 75th birthday recorded by the German public broadcaster SWR in Stuttgart in 2015 featuring Pat Metheny, Jan Garbarek, Gary Burton, Scott Colley, Danny Gottlieb, Paul McCandless, with Michael Gibbs and Helge Sunde conducting the SWR Big Band which was released on the ECM label.ECM Records Catalog: 2400 series accessed November 10, 2017Between Sound and Space accessed November 10, 2017
Reception
The AllMusic review by Thom Jurek states, "Weber witnessed this concert from the seats; he was by all accounts not only pleased, but moved. This is an understandable response to Hommage à Eberhard Weber, which not only proves an exception to by-the-numbers tribute recordings, but stands as a daunting, creative, and enduring extension of the bassist's work". On All About Jazz, John Kelman said "Weber is not just all over this record in the various compositions that have been drawn from nearly his entire career, arranged for a series of guests and the SWR Big Band, but he is actually heard—and, for those fortunate enough to have been there, seen— performing in the form of archival video recordings played on a large screen hung above the stage: video samples, then, rather than merely audio samples ... Hommage à Eberhard Weber honors Weber in a way that both appreciates and respects ... and couldn't be a more perfect tribute—or a more perfect gift—to this uniquely talented and influential bassist/composer".Kelman, J., All About Jazz Review, September 4, 2015 The Guardian's John Fordham stated "Weber's sparing themes and subtle tone-poetry are perhaps better suited to small bands than orchestras, but there's a lot of heartfelt and often beautiful music here for his admirers".Fordham, J., The Guardian Review, October 9, 2015 In The Irish Times, Cormac Larkin noted "Hommage is more than a tribute – it breathes new life into the playing of one of the founding fathers of European jazz".Larkin, C. Irish Times Review, September 18, 2015 The Telegraph concert review by Sebastian Scotney stated "this weekend's 75th birthday concerts in Stuttgart for the German bassist Eberhard Weber are going to take some beating as the jazz events of the year".Scotney, S. Eberhard Weber Jubilee Concert, Stuttgart, review: 'magical', The Telegraph, January 25, 2015
Track listing
Personnel Eberhard Weber – bass (from tapes) Pat Metheny – guitars Klaus-Peter Schöpfer – guitars Jan Garbarek – soprano saxophone Gary Burton – vibraphone Scott Colley – double bass Decebal Badila – bass Danny Gottlieb – drums Guido Jöris – drums, Percussion Klaus Wagenleiter – Piano, Keyboards Paul McCandless – English horn, soprano saxophone Klaus Graf – alto saxophone, soprano saxophone, clarinet Axel Kühn – Tenor Saxophone, Flute, Piccolo Flute, Clarinet Ian Cumming, Marc Godfroid – trombone Georg Maus – Bass Trombone Matthias Erlewein – Alto Saxophone, Flute, Piccolo Flute, clarinet Pierre Paquette – Baritone Saxophone, Bass Clarinet Felice Civitareale, Karl Farrent, Martin Auer, Nemanja Jovanovic, Rudi Reindl – Trumpet, Flugelhorn Andi Maile – Tenor Saxophone, Soprano Saxophone, Alto Flute, Clarinet Ernst Hutter – euphonium, trombone SWR Big Band conducted by Helge Sunde Michael Gibbs – arranger, conductor (track 4) Ralf Schmid (track 3), Libor Šíma (track 6), Rainer Tempel (track 5) – arranger Technical Martin Mühleis – producer Eberhard Weber, Pat Metheny – liner notes Doris Hauser, Volker Neumann and Boris Kellenbenz – recording Pete Karam – mixing Christoph Stickel – mastering Bernd Kuchenbeiser – design
References