Kai Eckhardt – Bass

In the late 1980s, guitarist John McLaughlin put together a groundbreaking trio with percussionist Trilok Gurtu and a series of bass players, Jeff Berlin, Kai Eckhardt and Dominique Di Piazza. The first line-up, with Jeff Berlin on bass, never made it onto tape (although I believe there are bootlegs around) but the second, with German bassist Kai Eckhardt recorded la live album at the Royal Festival Hall in London on 27 November 1989. The album, imaginatively titled, ‘Live At The Royal Festival Hall’, was released on the JMT label in 1990. The album reached number 3 in the Billboard Top Contemporary Jazz Albums chart.

McLaughlin makes extensive use on this recording of the Photon guitar synthesiser, a setup whereby transducers mounted on an acoustic guitar are used to control a synthesiser bank via MIDI. This enables McLaughlin to invoke a range of sounds and effects normally the preserve of keyboard players, resulting in a greater variety of moods and textures than might be assumed from the line-up. Eckhardt got the gig when he was introduced to McLaughlin but his improvisation teacher at Berklee, Gary Burton. This is my favourite of the trio line-ups. Although, ironically I saw the trio live with Berlin (at the RFH) and DiPiazza (Bristol Colston Hall) – front and centre both times – I didn’t see the Eckhardt trio but the recording has remained a favorite as has the Di Piazza follow-up, Que Alegria.

This is my transcription of Eckhardt’s bass solo on the Miles Davis/Bill Evans tune ‘Blue In Green’. The solo starts at around the 3:50 mark on the attached video.