Review of Animato by John Abercrombie, Ecm 1990

Although I have bought only recently in the bench of the used cd in my good old record store, I had memory to have listened to this Animato when it was released in 1990. Ath those times Abercrombie was one of the most interesting guitarists for ECM and the European jazz scene. The year before he had produced “Timeless” that had thrilled me a lot and I still remembers the sense of suspence for his new job, that however to those time not thrilled me so much. Listening to it 23 years later has made me another effect.
Abercrombie plays in trio in the classical team in that jazz has accustomed us from Wes Montgomery to the Tony Williams Lifetime: guitar, drums and keyboards.
To assist Abercrombie we find Jon Christensen, alla round drummer for the Ecm that shows as always his flexibility and reliability and Vince Mendoza to the keyboards that signs six of the eight  passages in the cd.
Abercrombie is an unusual guitarist that seems to have made sense of suspension and indeterminateness the trademarks of the sound of his instrument, bashful and introverted so fanciful musician he has always loved reflexive atmospheres whether to make to slightly flutter the saturated sound of his electric guitar. In the years he has almost become a cult musician, away from the notoriety of the guitar hero that at those times had reached others his colleagues, always in jazz rock circles. In this cd using the sonorous and chromatic carpets of Mendoza he surrenders to improvisations and ampler breath musical discourses that show well the quality and the colors of his musical inventions.
In the arc of his career he has known how to earn the estimation of musicians and fans and to make himself recognize for his sound and his cleverness. This record, too hastily set aside by me years ago, it is a good testimony of his passion and his artistic intelligence.