Getting There is the second ECM album by the trio of guitarist John Abercrombie, bassist Marc Johnson and drummer Peter Erskine. Johnson had played in Bill Evans's last trio and Erskine in Weather Report, and together they gave Abercrombie a supple, very responsive rhythm section. On three tracks they are joined by tenor saxophonist Michael Brecker. It is also the record on which Abercrombie made the widest use of the guitar synthesizer, alongside electric and acoustic guitars.
The trio had debuted on Current Events in 1986, and in April 1988 it was recorded live in Boston for an album issued under the three names. Getting There was recorded digitally in April 1987 at the Power Station in New York, with James Farber as engineer. Unusually for ECM at the time, the producer was not Manfred Eicher but Lee Townsend, and the sound is bright and close. Abercrombie wrote six of the eight pieces, with one each by Johnson and by the arranger Vince Mendoza.
Brecker plays on Sidekicks, Remember Hymn and Johnson's Furs on Ice. The opener is a hook-driven tune pushed by Erskine's drumming, fading out with the tenor still soaring. Remember Hymn is a slow, nocturnal ballad that turns into a long feature for Brecker. Furs on Ice rides a two-chord groove, with Erskine playing loose and hard behind the soloists. Without the saxophone, the title track pushes the guitar synthesizer close to rock, while Mendoza's Thalia and Abercrombie's Chance are soft and atmospheric. Labour Day closes on Johnson's bass and Erskine's brushes.
The guitar synthesizer has divided listeners, and ECM Reviews counts the album among the label's overlooked records of the 1980s. Later reviews have been kinder. Writing there, Tyran Grillo counted Remember Hymn as "one of the frontman's finest" and praised Townsend's production. In 2018 Matt Phillips of Moving the River called it his favourite Abercrombie album, hearing the ballad slowly become "a vehicle for Brecker's haunting tenor".
This is the CD edition of ECM 1321 (also numbered 833 494-2), first released in February 1988, with cover photograph and design by Dieter Rehm.
