SINCE his first mark on the jazz scene in the late sixties, John Abercrombie has firmly established himself as one of the finest guitarists doing the rounds.

His technical ability coupled with his desire for improvisation and collaboration has made him a popular figure amongst musicians and aficionados alike.

Working with a ‘who’s who’ of major jazz figureheads over the years, Abercrombie has flittered between progressive jazz, jazz-rock, post bop and jazz fusion throughout his career.

His next venture has a strong Irish connection to it – it will be the recording of ‘Renaissance Man’, a large scale piece written by Ronan Guilfoyle for guitar trio and string quartet.

“We’ve known each other for many years,” the American musician tells the Limerick Independent.

“I met him when he was a student over twenty years ago, I guess. We played this piece with Ronan’s brother Conor and the string quartet about three years ago. At the time, I thought it was a really interesting piece of music. It’s going to be challenging; it is something different to what I usually do, so I hope I can do it justice.”

Abercrombie and Guilfoyle have played together previously, and they will unwind after the recording sessions with four Irish dates, including one Limerick one, as part of the latest round of fine concerts dished out by the Limerick Jazz Society.

Joining the duo will be Michael Buckley on tenor sax, and Joey Baron on drums. Baron has been part of Abercrombie’s most solid quartet, which stretches back eight years now. However, the status quo is set to be interrupted:

“Marc Johnson is my favourite bass player on the planet, but unfortunately he is not going to be available anymore, as he is working with his wife,” explains John. “I’m going to be touring with a different bass player in the fall; this young guy called Thomas Morgan who is a really interesting bass player. It can be easier to replace a bassist as there are a lot out there, but I couldn’t ever replace Mark Feldman (violin) in the quartet.”

The new quartet will get to work upon Abercrombie’s return from Ireland, with a new release to be recorded in December. Yet again, it will be released by esteemed German label ECM, who have put out the majority of Abercrombie’s output since the early seventies.

“It’s the same as a band or a marriage that stays together; it works and feels right, so there is no need to change of it. A lot of record companies are folding now, but ECM have managed to stay afloat after so many years. I feel really blessed, to be honest. Manfred (Eicher, ECM founder) has been able to keep a lot of the artists on his label over the years, like Keith Jarrett, which says something about how people feel about him.”

However, while a shared ethos exists between artist and label, it could possibly be a drawback that ECM would not have a similar recording budget to a bigger label.

“Yeah, that’s true,” says John. “We get three days in studio – two days to record and one day to mix. I got to say that I like that process. By the time you leave you have a CD, and while it may not be sequenced like it will be in the end, you have to accept that, and you don’t end up spending loads of time brooding over it. I can understand how somebody like Pat Metheny would need to spend three months working on a record, because there is so much going on there.”

While Abercrombie enjoys the recording process, one gets the impression that he is more fond of playing live. “Recording is an oddball thing; you are only playing to other musicians, who may not even be in the same room as you. Sometimes, you don’t end up playing as full-on as you were going to. When that happens with a show, it is easier to forget about it, and say that I’ve got another show tonight or tomorrow that will fix it.”

In terms of the technicality of playing live, Abercrombie had dabbled with guitar synthesisers in the eighties, and does use some element of effects today. “I use a very minimal amount of that stuff. I’ve always like reverb, ever since I was a kid and my guitar teacher brought a little reverb unit to my lesson. As for the guitar synth, it was the ultimate robot to control; you had to be a mathematician to figure out how to work it properly! It caused a lot of anxiety, and I ended up not really enjoying playing with it.”

These days, John Abercrombie clearly relishes getting back playing live: “I don’t enjoy all the other stuff that goes with it, like travelling and that,” he admits. “But when it’s good, I enjoy playing now more than I ever did before. I’m playing better now; I have more control.”

John Abercrombie, with Ronan Guilfoyle, Joey Baron and Michael Buckley plays Dolan’s Warehouse this Thursday, September 11. Doors are at 8.30pm. Tickets priced €20 (€15 Concession) available from Dolan’s at 061-314483/www.dolans.ie

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