Nels Cline remembers the great guitarist and composer who had a profound and lasting impact on ’70s fusion and contemporary jazz improvisation.
Had I not already heard that the great guitarist and composer John Abercrombie was seriously ill, I would be walking around in a state of total emotional devastation today, the day following news of his death from heart failure on August 22, 2017. The extent to which his music and playing touched me is—like most aesthetic discussions/descriptions, I suppose—hard to put into words. John had recently released Up and Coming on ECM, the label on which his presence in the 1970s was nearly ubiquitous and had much to do with steering its aesthetic direction. To my ears, there was no clue in the music that this brilliant artist was in serious and sudden decline.
I first heard John Abercrombie in the early ’70s on a record by Barry Miles called Scatbird (released in 1972 on the Mainstream label), which may actually have been his first recording to officially emerge. I heard this thick Les Paul tone with a phase shifter playing lines that sounded like the guitarist had spent some serious time listening to John McLaughlin. I was interested but not galvanized, but the decade was young. Not long after this he ended up playing in the Billy Cobham Crosswinds band, and this was a time when Paganini-like virtuosity was the gestalt. John always sounded like he could do that, but I now realize that his gifts, as they emerged only a few years later, had more to do with a combination of his mastery of a very personal jazz syntax and an ability to morph into various odd and wonderfully musical personalities.
Around this time, a huge chunk of my world revolved around my almost obsessive love of Ralph Towner’s playing and compositions. It was Ralph who gave it to me straight when I, in a casual backstage conversation during the ECM Festival at UCLA in 1976 or ’77, expressed mild surprise that he and John were starting to play as a duo. In my aging memory, Ralph actually became almost stern with me when he said something like, “You have to love Abercrombie. His playing is completely fresh and filled not just with character but with characters.” Somewhat stunned, I immediately reassessed. I had just heard him with Jack DeJohnette’s New Directions and really loved how he used a Les Paul Junior to punctuate the open-ended music with cogent stabs and runs. It was a sound that ended up influencing me and how I sometimes approach comping chords in freer situations.
At this point, John began to appear on dozens of ECM recordings. His first record under his own name was Timeless with Jan Hammer and Jack DeJohnette. It has been acknowledged as a stone classic for decades, not just by virtue of the scorching playing it evinces at times, but also by virtue of John’s brilliant composing. Not much later, his record of overdubbed guitar music called Characters was released (please note what Ralph Towner said to me in the previous paragraph), and along with the subsequent duo recordings with Towner, it had an effect on me and my musical thinking that was utterly profound. John’s playing goes far beyond showing off chops and merely showcasing his abilities. It reveals varying voices, like someone telling you a story but not being afraid to change his voice to say different characters’ lines to make the story come alive. He also did dozens of ECM sessions. One that really sticks in my head right now for some reason is the Jan Garbarek album Eventyr, on which John adds so much vibe on his guitar and electric mandolin. DeJohnette’s Pictures album has also just floated into my head, a record of only the two of them with a minimal, almost ambient quality. Then there was Gateway, a kind of supergroup with DeJohnette, Dave Holland, and John playing an SG or Melody Maker or something and liberally using the tremolo bar and volume pedal to an almost eccentric degree. That sound seeped into my consciousness, changed my style, and necessitated my purchase of a volume pedal.
I would linger around neurotically whenever John and Ralph would play in Southern California, and John was always really friendly and really funny. He and Ralph were so sympatico and seemed to share a similarly wry and sometimes dark sense of humor. John always reminded me of the brilliant but rumpled professor or detective, ready with an acerbic comment or self-deprecating shrug, his thinning hair in a random swirl of some sort. I heard the John Abercrombie Quartet (with Richie Beirach, George Mraz, and Peter Donald) several times at The Lighthouse in Hermosa Beach. One stormy Tuesday night my brother and I saw them play to 30, maybe 15, people. From the first note the group was on fire.
As time went on, John threw away his pick, concentrated on using his thumb, and headed in a more “straight-ahead” jazz direction. He continued to write beautiful songs and make great records. As I look over my collection, I see the wonderful album he made with John Scofield on Palo Alto Jazz, the duo record with Don Thompson, all his ECM releases. It is because of John, and to a slightly lesser extent Bill Evans, that I play “Beautiful Love” on my Lovers album. It’s because of him I learned that the song first appeared in The Mummy with Boris Karloff.
The last time I saw John was in Melbourne during a jazz festival. His quartet with Mark Feldman, Drew Gress, and Joey Baron was performing. I ran into him on the steps outside our hotel, almost literally, since we didn’t see one another until we were practically face to face. He was as warm and funny and sweet and rumpled as ever. It’s so hard to imagine him ill and suffering, so hard to imagine this planet and our collective musical life without him. My friend Brian Camelio sent out an email to a bunch of guitarists several weeks ago telling us how ill John was and that we should send cards to try to cheer him up, which I did. I had no clue that things were so dire. But as such the news of his death is not as much of a shock to me as it could have been, and I am grateful for this.
Even as tears are forming in my eyes right now, they may have otherwise have become an unmanageable torrent. May we all appreciate every blessed moment we are able to breathe and live our lives. And may we all take a moment or a day or the rest of our lives to reflect on the beauty and wonder that is John Abercrombie.
Me, I think I will put on the ultra-poignant opening track from Up and Coming called “Joy” now and let it all out.
Selenium, an alternative to silicon and germanium, helps make an overdrive of great nuance and delectable boost and low-gain overdrive tones.
Clever application of alternative materials that results in a simple, make-everything-sound-better boost and low-gain overdrive.
Might not have enough overdrive for some tastes (although that’s kind of the idea).
$240 street
Cusack Project 34 Selenium Rectifier Pre/Drive Pedal
cusackmusic.com
The term “selenium rectifier” might be Greek to most guitarists, but if it rings a bell with any vintage-amp enthusiasts that’s likely because you pulled one of these green, sugar-cube-sized components out of your amp’s tube-biasing network to replace it with a silicon diode.
That’s a long-winded way of saying that, just like silicon or germanium diodes—aka “rectifiers”—the lesser-seen selenium can also be used for gain stages in a preamp or drive pedal. Enter the new Project 34 Selenium Rectifier Pre/Drive from Michigan-based boutique maker Cusack, named after the element’s atomic number, of course.
An Ounce of Pre-Vention
As quirky as the Project 34 might seem, it’s not the first time that company founder Jon Cusack indulged his long-standing interest in the element. In 2021, he tested the waters with a small 20-unit run of the Screamer Fuzz Selenium pedal and has now tamed the stuff further to tap levels of gain running from pre-boost to light overdrive. Having used up his supply of selenium rectifiers on the fuzz run, however, Cusack had to search far and wide to find more before the Project 34 could launch.
“Today they are usually relegated to just a few larger industrial and military applications,” Cusack reports, “but after over a year of searching we finally located what we needed to make another pedal. While they are a very expensive component, they certainly do have a sound of their own.”
The control interface comprises gain, level, and a traditional bright-to-bassy tone knob, the range of which is increased exponentially by the 3-position contour switch: Up summons medium bass response, middle is flat response with no bass boost, and down is maximum bass boost. The soft-touch, non-latching footswitch taps a true-bypass on/off state, and power requires a standard center-negative 9V supply rated at for least 5 mA of current draw, but you can run the Project 34 on up to 18V DC.
Going Nuclear
Tested with a Telecaster and an ES-355 into a tweed Deluxe-style 1x12 combo and a 65 Amps London head and 2x12 cab, the Project 34 is a very natural-sounding low-gain overdrive with a dynamic response and just enough compression that it doesn’t flatten the touchy-feely pick attack. The key adjectives here are juicy, sweet, rich, and full. It’s never harsh or grating.
“The gain knob is pretty subtle from 10 o’clock up, which actually helps keep the Project 34 in character.”
There’s plenty of output available via the level control, but the gain knob is pretty subtle from 10 o’clock up, which actually helps keep the Project 34 in character. Settings below there remain relatively clean—amp-setting dependent, of course—and from that point on up the overdrive ramps up very gradually, which, in amp-like fashion, is heard as a slight increase in saturation and compression. The pedal was especially fantastic with the Telecaster and the tweed-style combo, but also interacted really well with humbuckers into EL84s, which certainly can’t be said for all overdrives.
The Verdict
Although I almost hate to use the term, the Project 34 is a very organic gain stage that just makes everything sound better, and does so with a selenium-driven voice that’s an interesting twist on the standard preamp/drive. For all the variations on boost and low/medium-gain overdrive out there it’s still a very welcome addition to the market, and definitely worth checking out—particularly if you’re looking for subtler shades of overdrive.
Some of us love drum machines and synths and others don’t, but we all love Billy.
Billy Gibbons is an undisputable guitar force whose feel, tone, and all-around vibe make him the highest level of hero. But that’s not to say he hasn’t made some odd choices in his career, like when ZZ Top re-recorded parts of their classic albums for CD release. And fans will argue which era of the band’s career is best. Some of us love drum machines and synths and others don’t, but we all love Billy.
This episode is sponsored by Magnatone
An '80s-era cult favorite is back.
Originally released in the 1980s, the Victory has long been a cult favorite among guitarists for its distinctive double cutaway design and excellent upper-fret access. These new models feature flexible electronics, enhanced body contours, improved weight and balance, and an Explorer headstock shape.
A Cult Classic Made Modern
The new Victory features refined body contours, improved weight and balance, and an updated headstock shape based on the popular Gibson Explorer.
Effortless Playing
With a fast-playing SlimTaper neck profile and ebony fretboard with a compound radius, the Victory delivers low action without fret buzz everywhere on the fretboard.
Flexible Electronics
The two 80s Tribute humbucker pickups are wired to push/pull master volume and tone controls for coil splitting and inner/outer coil selection when the coils are split.
For more information, please visit gibson.com.
Gibson Victory Figured Top Electric Guitar - Iguana Burst
Victory Figured Top Iguana BurstThe SDE-3 fuses the vintage digital character of the legendary Roland SDE-3000 rackmount delay into a pedalboard-friendly stompbox with a host of modern features.
Released in 1983, the Roland SDE-3000 rackmount delay was a staple for pro players of the era and remains revered for its rich analog/digital hybrid sound and distinctive modulation. BOSS reimagined this retro classic in 2023 with the acclaimed SDE-3000D and SDE-3000EVH, two wide-format pedals with stereo sound, advanced features, and expanded connectivity. The SDE-3 brings the authentic SDE-3000 vibe to a streamlined BOSS compact, enhanced with innovative creative tools for every musical style. The SDE-3 delivers evocative delay sounds that drip with warmth and musicality. The efficient panel provides the primary controls of its vintage benchmark—including delay time, feedback, and independent rate and depth knobs for the modulation—plus additional knobs for expanded sonic potential.
A wide range of tones are available, from basic mono delays and ’80s-style mod/delay combos to moody textures for ambient, chill, and lo-fi music. Along with reproducing the SDE-3000's original mono sound, the SDE-3 includes a powerful Offset knob to create interesting tones with two simultaneous delays. With one simple control, the user can instantly add a second delay to the primary delay. This provides a wealth of mono and stereo colors not available with other delay pedals, including unique doubled sounds and timed dual delays with tap tempo control. The versatile SDE-3 provides output configurations to suit any stage or studio scenario.
Two stereo modes include discrete left/right delays and a panning option for ultra-wide sounds that move across the stereo field. Dry and effect-only signals can be sent to two amps for wet/dry setups, and the direct sound can be muted for studio mixing and parallel effect rigs. The SDE-3 offers numerous control options to enhance live and studio performances. Tap tempo mode is available with a press and hold of the pedal switch, while the TRS MIDI input can be used to sync the delay time with clock signals from DAWs, pedals, and drum machines. Optional external footswitches provide on-demand access to tap tempo and a hold function for on-the-fly looping. Alternately, an expression pedal can be used to control the Level, Feedback, and Time knobs for delay mix adjustment, wild pitch effects, and dramatic self-oscillation.
The new BOSS SDE-3 Dual Delay Pedal will be available for purchase at authorized U.S. BOSS retailers in October for $219.99. To learn more, visit www.boss.info.