Chamber Jazz

This style creates an intimate sound that incorporates orchestral and world instruments with traditional jazz instruments. Although there is often a bass and percussion presence, in nearly all cases they exist without the traditional drum-set + bass format (i.e. "rhythm section"), and the bass role often shifts between different instruments within a piece.  (Asterisks indicate what I consider to be indispensable recordings.)

Marek Balata/Art Lande/Gunter Wehinger
* Trilogy (trio)
(voice, piano, flute, percussion)
(GOWI Records/CDG 49)

Egberto Gismonti
* Infancia (quartet)
(classical guitar, piano, synthesizer, cello, bass)
(ECM Records)
Danca Das Cabecas (duo)
(classical guitar, piano, voice, percussion)
(ECM Records)
Folk Songs (trio)
(classical guitar, piano, soprano/tenor sax, bass, voice)
(ECM Records)

Art Lande/Jan Garbarek
* Red Lanta (duo)
(tenor/soprano/bass sax, flute, piano)

Paul McCandless/Art Lande/Dave Samuels
* Skylight (trio)
(various reeds, piano, vibes, marimba, percussion)
(ECM Records)
All The Mornings Bring (trio)
(various reeds, piano, vibes, marimba, percussion
+ woodwind ensemble and bass)
(Electra Records, LP only)

Oregon
* The Crossing (quartet)
(ECM Records)
Out Of The Woods (quartet)
(Electra Records, LP only)
Ecotopia (quartet)
(ECM Records)
45th Parallel (quartet)
(Horizons Music)
(various reeds, classical/12-string guitars, piano, synthesizer, bass, percussion, tablas)

Michael Smolens
The Last Rendezvous
(solo piano to chamber ensemble)
(Second Sight Music)

Ralph Towner and John Abercrombie
Five Years Later (duo)
(classical/12-string guitars, electric mandolin)
(ECM Records, LP only)

Trio Globo
* Trio Globo (trio)
(cello, harmonica, piano, percussion)
(Silver Wave Records)

 

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