Fluid Rustle

EBERHARD WEBER

(ECM)

Before Windham Hill and the dreaded "new age" entered the genre lexicon, there was plenty of quiet, ambient music being made that had creativity and improvisational force. Much of it was on the German label ECM (whose biggest artists have been Pat Metheny and Keith Jarrett). Eberhard Weber, a German specializing in the solid-body upright bass, made this gauzy effort that featured vibraphonist Gary Burton, guitarist Bill Frisell and two female singers performing ethereal wordless melodies. Weber's gurgling bass solos sound like a sedate Jaco Pastorius. The music is relaxing, expansive and, in its own way, profound.

This article appears in May 21-27, 2008.

Eric Snider is the dean of Bay area music critics. He started in the early 1980s as one of the founding members of Music magazine, a free bi-monthly. He was the pop music critic for the then-St. Petersburg...