Overpass is a studio album by the jazz acoustic bassist Marc Johnson.[1][2] ECM released the album on 27 August 2021.
| Overpass | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
 | ||||
| Studio album by | ||||
| Released | 27 August 2021 | |||
| Recorded | January–February 2018 | |||
| Studio | Nacena Studios in Säo Paulo, Brazil | |||
| Genre | Post-bop, jazz | |||
| Length | 43:23 | |||
| Label | ECM | |||
| Producer | Marc Johnson, Eliane Elias | |||
| Marc Johnson chronology | ||||
| ||||
Background
editOverpass was his first album in about 10 years. It is a rare bass-only album; it contains eight compositions recorded in Säo Paulo, Brazil during 2018. Five tracks are originals; three tracks are covers: Miles Davis’ "Nardis" and Alex North's "Love Theme from Spartacus" were staples of the Bill Evans’ repertoire.[3] Johnson and his wife Eliane Elias produced the record.
Johnson said that several things led him to record this album, commenting, " I’ve been experimenting with different ways of playing alone with the bass to make music and came up with a couple of different meditative-type, pattern-oriented concepts. That started the idea of doing a whole record like that some time. I’ve been experimenting with that and throwing them on different album projects for different people, like with John Abercrombie. There are some moments in a track here or there, where I dive into something like that, but I had never tried to do a whole piece from start to finish with just that being the impetus of thing."[4]
Reception
edit| Review scores | |
|---|---|
| Source | Rating |
| All About Jazz |   [5] |
| DownBeat |  [6] |
| Jazzwise | [7] |
| Tom Hull | B+[8] |
Jeff Tamarkin writing for the JazzTimes stated, "Each bassist who’s taken the solo plunge has approached it with a different methodology, but one guiding principle behind most of their creations is the need to coax the listener’s brain into filling in the considerable spaces left by the absence of others, to give the illusion of fullness. Most of us simply aren’t accustomed to hearing an unaccompanied upright acoustic bass for a long stretch of time. Johnson is well aware of that, and he takes care to maintain continually involving conversations with himself throughout these eight pieces."[9] Nigel Jarrett of the Jazz Journal wrote, "Overpass is so called to describe a mini-survey of charts with which Johnson has been associated in one way or another. It’s his first solo album, and it presents a jazz master on peak form and home alone."[10] Karl Ackermann of All About Jazz added, "The virtuoso bassist Marc Johnson has kept a relatively low profile as a leader. Overpass marks Johnson's return to Manfred Eicher's label after ten years, and is his first solo album... The music of Marc Johnson, original and repurposed, mingles traditional jazz, vivid structures, and improvisation, and an intuitively unique style develops. It's quite a feat to generate so much appealing sound from a single, double bass, but Johnson is talented enough to make that kind of magic happen."[5]
Track listing
edit| No. | Title | Writer(s) | Length |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1. | "Freedom Jazz Dance" | Eddie Harris | 6:47 |
| 2. | "Nardis" | Miles Davis | 5:18 |
| 3. | "Samurai Fly" | Johnson | 4:20 |
| 4. | "Love Theme From Spartacus" | Alex North | 4:23 |
| 5. | "Life of Pai" | Johnson | 4:25 |
| 6. | "And Strike Each Tuneful String" | Johnson | 7:20 |
| 7. | "Yin and Yang" | Johnson | 4:16 |
| 8. | "Whorled Whirled World" | Johnson | 6:32 |
| Total length: | 43:23 | ||
Personnel
edit- Marc Johnson – bass
References
edit- ^ "OVERPASS by MARC JOHNSON". ECM Records. Retrieved 3 February 2022.
- ^ "Overpass - Marc Johnson | Songs, Reviews, Credits | AllMusic". AllMusic. Retrieved 3 February 2022.
- ^ Garratt, John (31 August 2021). "Marc Johnson: Overpass". Spectrum Culture. Retrieved 7 February 2022.
- ^ Johnson, Kevin (26 August 2021). "Overpass: An Interview with Marc Johnson". No Treble. Retrieved 8 February 2022.
- ^ a b Ackermann, Karl (1 October 2021). "Marc Johnson: Overpass album review @ All About Jazz". All About Jazz. Retrieved 3 February 2022.
- ^ Woodard, Josef (December 2021). "Marc Johnson: Overpass". DownBeat. Retrieved 16 March 2022.
- ^ "Reviews". Jazzwise. October 2021. Retrieved 6 July 2022.
- ^ "Tom Hull: Grade List: Marc Johnson". Tom Hull. Retrieved 3 February 2022.
- ^ Tamarkin, Jeff (21 September 2021). "Marc Johnson: Overpass (ECM)". JazzTimes. Retrieved 3 February 2022.
- ^ Jarrett, Nigel (15 November 2021). "Marc Johnson: Overpass". Jazz Journal. Retrieved 3 February 2022.