Gary Burton Quartet
Real Life Hits
ECM Records (Germany) 1985
ECM 1293 (LP) Original pressing.
sleeve : EX(slightly color-faded on spine, a few very small and slightly spots)
media : EX+/EX-(some slightly noise. the first parts on B1 has some light pop noise)
Released in 1985, this ECM album is by a quartet led by American jazz vibraphonist Gary Burton, active since the early 1960s, with Steve Swallow on bass, Mike Hyman on drums, and Japanese jazz pianist Makoto Ozone. The lineup is the same one that appeared the previous year at the Newport Jazz Festival held annually in Madarao, Japan. The album was recorded that same year at Tonstudio Bauer in Ludwigsburg, a studio familiar to ECM listeners. Among the many artists in the ECM catalogue, Burton could perhaps be regarded as one of its more orthodox jazz figures, and this album likewise avoids anything particularly eccentric. Instead, the quartet delivers beautifully refined contemporary jazz throughout—mellow and easy on the ear, yet still possessing the unmistakable depth characteristic of ECM.
A4: Ladies in Mercedes
B1: Real Life Hits