FW: ECM guitarists

["William Walker" <billwalker@baymoon.com>]

Matthias wrote:
" he had a stroke about 2 years ago and did not manage to play again  
since :-("

Very sorry to hear that, I got to hear him play live and his electric sound
was really striking, very vocal and expressive.

For that matter Terje Rypdal isn't in the best of health either though I'm
not sure of the details.  One track on Odyssey sounds to me like he might 
be
playing a fender bass VI which is more of an early electric baritone, he
plays a really long solo that gets lower and lower,  out of range of normal
guitar. I haven't owned that album in many years but I seem to recall 
trying
to find those low notes on my guitar and being thwarted, he's holding it on
the back cover.

Per wrote:
"Since having heard Odyssey I went to some of his gigs in the late 
seventies
and was always amazed by how loud they played. It was like "Jimi Hendrix
goes jazz"
(earthquake volume) and not at all as "delicate" as I had expected the live
act to be after hearing the records."

I can believe that, I saw Return to Forever with Bill Connors play in a
small club in San Francisco and it was Marshall Stack Loud, same with the
first time I saw The Mahavishnu Orchestra at Winterland, blazing loud. 
Those
early fusion bands enjoyed their amp stacks. Of course Billy Cobham and
Lenny White had a lot to do with ratcheting up the volume.  
Bill