Eberhard Weber
Biography Eberhard Weber
Eberhard Weber
was born in 1940 in Stuttgart, Germany. The son of a music teacher, Weber received a classical training, which influenced his later attitude to composition and musical structure.
Paul Olson (allaboutjazz.com) called Weber’s ECM debut album The Colours of Chloë (1973) “a near-perfect album” by “an artist whose creative vision seemed completely mature”. It is often cited as an early instance of “European chamber jazz” and thus of an “emancipation” from a US mainstream. Nevertheless, American musicians were intrigued by Weber’s work and especially his expressive use of customized five-string electric upright bass, his instrument of choice since 1974. In his first decade with ECM, Weber played with Gary Burton’s band as well as guitarists Pat Metheny and Mick Goodrick (Ring, 1974, and Passengers, 1976); the association with the great vibraphonist was revived in 2005 on Stages of a Long Journey. Weber also played with Ralph Towner (Solstice, 1974, and Sound and Shadows, 1977) and on Metheny’s Watercolors (1977).
His popular band, Colours showcased saxophonist Charlie Mariano (Yellow Fields, 1975, Silent Feet, 1977, Little Movements, 1980). Guitarist Bill Frisell, pianist Lyle Mays and oboist Paul McCandless have also made contributions to Weber discs. From 1978, Weber made his work with Jan Garbarek a priority; “we have an ideal musical sensitivity together”, Weber has said. He toured the globe with nine incarnations of the Garbarek Group and appeared on a dozen albums with the Norwegian saxophonist.
In 2007 Weber suffered a severe stroke which put an end to his playing career, though not his musical activities. Weber's most recent albums, Résumé (2012) and Encore (2015) cleverly deploy recorded solos from his performances with the Garbarek Group, overdubbed with keyboards/treatments by Weber, and contributions from Garbarek (saxophones, flute), Ack Van Rooyen (flugelhorn) and Michael DiPasqua (percussion). Hommage à Eberhard Weber (2015) brings together an all-star line-up of Weber’s friends and collaborators in a unique programme of Weber compositions, incorporating taped material and an extended homage by Pat Metheny. In his liner notes, the guitarist writes of his sense of Weber from the first being “an individual who had a visionary sense of what music could be, totally of his own design”.
