Ralph Towner – Gary Peacock – Kenny Wheeler – live in Eschede, Germany – June 21, 1992 – WDR – Gordon Skene Sound Collection –
It continues – it’s relentless – it doesn’t seem to want to stop. This time it’s Gary Peacock, poet of the Bass and collaborator with countless artists – a staple in the diet of ECM fans and one of the preeminent figures in the role of Jazz bass playing from the 60s on, passed away on September 5th.
This from Jack DeJohnette’s website from earlier yesterday:
”It is with deep sadness that we mourn the passing of the great Gary Peacock. I had the good fortune to have spent over 30 years playing some amazing music with him both separately and the Trio with Keith Jarrett. Gary had a great sound, feel and highly creative imagination. It was Gary’s album on ECM, Tales of Another that brought us together, after that we decided to stay playing together, and the rest is history. I have a lot of love and gratitude for what he has contributed to the music we call Jazz. Lydia and I send our deepest love to the Peacock family you are in our hearts always.”
This performance, one of his many collaborations with Ralph Towner also features Kenny Wheeler on trumpet in a concert from Eschede, Germany and recorded for West German Radio on June 21, 1992.
Via Matt Collar of Allmusic:
A sophisticated, forward-thinking jazz bassist, Gary Peacock is a subtle yet distinctive musician whose intuitive, sympathetic ear for group interplay has found him crossing from straight-ahead standards to avant-garde free jazz. While his intellectual curiosity has drawn him to such wide-ranging pursuits as biology and Eastern philosophy, Peacock’s immense musical talents have kept him at the epicenter of progressive jazz and creative improvisation for more than six decades. He began recording with saxophonist Bud Shank and others during the late 1950s. His first engagement with the ’60s “new thing” was on the 1963 Prince Lasha-Sonny Simmons date Cry! He worked with both Gil Evans and Bill Evans in 1964, followed by a stint in the Albert Ayler quartet that netted Ghosts, Spirits Rejoice!, and Spiritual Unity. His long association with ECM Records began in 1970 with the simply titled Paul Bley with Gary Peacock. Peacock was prolific during the 1970s, playing on key recordings for Japanese jazzmen, and working with pianists Bley, Mal Waldron, and Bill Evans. In 1977, he led a trio with Jack Dejohnette and Keith Jarrett for Tales of Another on ECM (which soon evolved into the pianist’s long-lived “Standards Trio”), followed by 1979’s widely acclaimed (mostly) solo bass offering December Poems. During the 1980s, Peacock led several bands and was a member of Jarrett’s and Michel Petrucciani’s trios. During the century’s final decade, Peacock participated in numerous dates — often as a co-leader — including duet offerings with guitarists Bill Frisell and Ralph Towner, and as a member of Tethered Moon, with Motian and Masabumi Kikuchi on the now-classic Plays Kurt Weill date. Peacock also participated in several historic sessions including Annette (with Bley and Franz Koglmann), the Jarrett Trio’s At the Deer Head Inn, and Nothing Ever Was, Anyway. Music of Annette Peacock, by pianist Marylin Crispell. He remained her collaborator for 2001’s Amaryllis and co-headlined Azure in 2013, while also maintaining his membership in Jarrett’s group and collaborating extensively with pianist Marc Copland.
RIP: Gary Peacock (May 12, 1935 – September 5, 2020).
