ECM

PAT METHENY
JANGARBAREK
GARYBURTON
SCOTTCOLLEY
DANNYGOTTLIEB
PAULMcCANDLESS
MICHAEL GIBBS
HELGE SUNDE
SWR BIG BAND
HOMMAGE À
EBERHARD WEBER

with
PAT METHENY guitars
JAN GARBAREK soprano saxophone
GARY BURTON vibraphone
SCOTT COLLEY double bass
DANNY GOTTLIEB drums
PAUL McCANDLESS English horn, soprano saxophone
KLAUS GRAF alto saxophone
ERNST HUTTER euphonium

MICHAEL GIBBS arranger, conductor

RALF SCHMID arranger
RAINER TEMPEL arranger
LIBOR ŠÍMA arranger

and the
SWR BIG BAND
HELGE SUNDE conductor
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SWR BIG BAND

NEMANJA JOVANOVIC trumpet, flugelhorn

FELICE CIVITAREALE trumpet, flugelhorn
KARL FARRENT trumpet, flugelhorn
MARTIN AUER trumpet, flugelhorn
RUDI REINDL trumpet, flugelhorn

MARC GODFROID trombone

ERNST HUTTER trombone, euphonium
IAN CUMMING trombone
GEORG MAUS bass trombone

KLAUS GRAF alto and soprano saxophones, clarinet

MATTHIAS ERLEWEIN alto saxophone, flute, piccolo flute, clarinet
AXEL KÜHN tenor saxophone, flute, piccolo flute, alto flute
ANDI MAILE tenor and soprano saxophones, alto flute, clarinet
PIERRE PAQUETTE baritone saxophone, bass clarinet

KLAUS-PETER SCHÖPFER guitar

DECEBAL BADILA bass
GUIDO JÖRIS drums, percussion
KLAUS WAGENLEITER piano, keyboard
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1 RÉSUMÉ VARIATIONS 8:00

by Eberhard Weber
Jan Garbarek, solo improvisations
Eberhard Weber (from tape)

2 HOMMAGE 31:33
Composed by Pat Metheny,
based on improvisations by Eberhard Weber
Soloists: Pat Metheny, Gary Burton,
Scott Colley, Danny Gottlieb,
and Eberhard Weber (from tape)

3 TOUCH 8:19
by Eberhard Weber
Arranger: Ralf Schmid
Soloists: Gary Burton, Ernst Hutter
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4 MAURIZIUS 9:26
by Eberhard Weber
Arranger: Michael Gibbs
Soloists: Paul McCandless, Gary Burton

5 TÜBINGEN 6:55
by Eberhard Weber
Arranger: Rainer Tempel
Soloists: Paul McCandless, Gary Burton

6 NOTES AFTER AN EVENING 5:32

by Eberhard Weber
Arranger: Libor Šíma
Soloists: Gary Burton, Paul McCandless,
Klaus Graf
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MUSIC FOR EBERHARD

Eberhard Weber is a very special person for me. I became a huge fan of his
music and his playing from the first time I heard it, and the fact that I was able
to spend a significant amount of time with him on the bandstand and in the
recording studio in the early going of my musical career was something very
important for me. We played on two Gary Burton records together (Ring and
Passengers) that formed the bookends of my three-year stay in Gary’s
band, and Eberhard was gracious to accept my invitation to join me on my
second record as a leader, Watercolors.
As much as I admire everything about Eberhard the musician, the time that
we were able to spend just hanging out together while touring around the
world with Gary was hugely influential on me personally. I was 19 when we first
recorded and Eberhard was not only a hero for me but was someone who I could
really learn from; I found his innovative approach to the sound and function
of his instrument incredibly inspiring. 
He seemed to be the personification of an individual who had a visionary
sense of what music could be, totally of his own design. This was manifest in
the instruments that he had built to bring that sound into the air, crystallizing
a sonic fingerprint that even all these years later remains as uniquely identi-
fiable and fresh as it was on first hearing back then.
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I was asked to participate in a special event to be held in January 2015

to honor Eberhard’s incredible life as a musician. My idea was to try to create
something special for this very unique musician. 
Since Eberhard’s stroke in 2007, he has not been able to play. But I felt
that his sonic identity was such a huge component in his work that I wanted to
somehow acknowledge it in whatever form I could. 
It came to me that it would be interesting to take the idea of sampling one step
further; to find video elements of Eberhard improvising and then reorganize,
chop, mix and orchestrate elements of those performances together into
a new composition with a large projection of the Eberhard moments that I
chose filling a screen behind us as we performed. It seemed like a new way to
compose for me that would almost take the form of visual sampling. 
Although this seemed like an Eberhard-worthy idea, technically it was
quite difficult to do. As it happened, there were only two really usable
performances that included long stretches of Eberhard improvising on screen
to be found, one from 1986 in Stuttgart and another brief interlude from a
Jan Garbarek concert in 1988 in Leverkusen.
The challenges were many, but first and foremost was the issue how to
create from scratch an extended piece that would honor Eberhard and
also utilize the skills and talents of the commissioning large ensemble, the
excellent SWR Big Band. 
Included in my idea was to invite Gary Burton to be a major soloist in the
piece. In many ways, Eberhard and I shared the benefits of Gary’s amazingly
consistent career-long ability to put together unique combinations of
musicians. That, in addition to being one of the greatest musicians of our time.
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And I thought having Danny Gottlieb join us would be something special.

Stylistically, he was perfect for what I had in mind and he also played such an
important part in that period of time for all of us as a drummer. Scott Colley has
been a favorite bassist of mine for years. He is truly one of the most versatile
and sensitive players around. And Scott seemed to be exactly the perfect bass
foil on acoustic for my imagined virtual Eberhard.
The technical process that I had to develop to get to the final result I was
aspiring to was difficult and somewhat arcane; I had to learn a lot of things
along the way, not to mention that I think the last time I wrote an arrangement
for big band was in my early high school years. And as it happened, because
of the touring schedule that was in place for my band in the year leading up to
the event, it wound up that I really was only left with a few weeks to write
the piece before the rehearsals and performances in Stuttgart while simul-
taneously developing the audio/visual platform for the piece.
But the inspiration of diving deep into Eberhard’s sonic world again was
utterly transforming for me. I was reminded once again throughout this pro-
cess just how huge Eberhard’s presence in my life has been and how important
he has been for me in so many ways.
The ultimate satisfaction for me in all of this was getting to see Eberhard
again. As it often happens with musicians, as tight as Eberhard and I had been
in those early days, in the thirty-plus years in between we both recalled
running into each only once in the interim, intersecting at an airport check-in
line in the blur of one of our individual marathon touring periods.
The best part of all of this for me was Eberhard’s approval of the piece.
The main goal for me in all of this was the hope that Eberhard would enjoy the
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evening of the premiere and that I would be able to represent at least a portion
of the genuine love I have for him and his music in a way that was faithful to
the standard he established throughout his amazing career.
I am thrilled with the result. The SWR Big Band played the music so
beautifully, conductor Helge Sunde was a joy to work with, and it was fantastic
to be able to share the bandstand once again with Gary, Danny and Scott.
I hope everyone will enjoy this music as we all continue to appreciate the
contributions of Eberhard Weber to the music world.
Special thanks to Martin Mühleis, Eberhard’s friend and manager whose
tireless efforts behind the scenes throughout this period really made all
of this happen.

Pat Metheny
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Anlässlich meines 75. Geburtstags hat mich die Landesregierung Baden-

Württemberg mit dem erstmals vergebenen „Jazzpreis Baden-Württemberg
für das Lebenswerk“ und mit einem unglaublichen Konzert geehrt. Ich konnte
nochmals auf der Bühne Platz nehmen und meine Kollegen erleben, wie sie
meine Musik auf ihre ganz persönliche Art interpretierten. Die Gedanken und
Gefühle, die ich in diesem Moment hatte – neben mir im Scheinwerferlicht
mein langjähriger Weggefährte Jan Garbarek, der wie früher zu meinen
Bassklängen improvisierte – ich kann sie noch heute nicht in Worte fassen.
Drei junge deutsche Jazzmusiker aus der Region und der erfahrene
weitgereiste Michael Gibbs hatten meine Kompositionen für die SWR Big Band
ausgewählt. Ich wollte mich überraschen lassen, was sie als inspirierend
und verwendungsfähig einstuften. Und dann die Pat-Metheny-Sensation:
Ich auf der Leinwand spielend und auf der Bühne zuhörend, zugleich als
aktiver Musiker und als Konzert-Besucher, bei seinem höchst aufregendem
und ungewöhlichen Opus ‚Hommage‘, eingebunden in die SWR Big Band, dazu
mit meinem jungen New Yorker Bass-Kollegen Scott Colley in einem musika-
lischen Dialog. Die Kollegen live, ich virtuell.
Ich fühle mich allen gleichermaßen verpflichtet, wobei ich unbedingt
Manfred Eicher miteinbeziehen will, diese CD ‚Hommage‘ herausgebracht zu
haben. Jedenfalls war ich überwältigt und sprachlos – und bin es noch heute.
Diese Konzerte sind nach meiner Überzeugung nicht zu überbieten.
Somit überlege ich ernsthaft: Man muss auch mal Schluss machen können.
Mal sehen, ob es mir gelingt… Nochmals mein Dank allen, die dieses Ereignis
möglich gemacht haben!
Eberhard Weber
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On the occasion of my 75th birthday I was honoured to be presented with

the “Jazzpreis Baden-Württemberg für das Lebenswerk”, a lifetime achieve-
ment award given for the first time, as well as two astonishing concerts in
Stuttgart. And so I came to take my place once again on a stage, witnessing
my colleagues’ very personal interpretations of my music. My thoughts
and feelings as Jan Garbarek improvised in the spotlight to my bass sounds
as in former days… I can’t put them in words even today.
Three young local German jazz musicians and the well-travelled arranger
and conductor Michael Gibbs selected some of my compositions for the
SWR Big Band. I let them surprise me with choices of pieces they considered
usable and inspiring. Then there was the Pat Metheny sensation: me, playing
on a screen while listening on the stage, at once an active musician and
a concertgoer for this highly exciting and unusual ‘Hommage’, my bass lines
embodied in the big band orchestration as well as in a constant musical
dialogue with my young bass colleague Scott Colley from New York. My col-
leagues live, myself virtual.
I feel equally indebted to all participants and would also like to thank
Manfred Eicher for releasing this ‘Hommage’ on CD. Anyhow, I was and still am
overwhelmed and speechless. To my mind, these concerts can hardly be
topped.
And so I am seriously thinking: one must also be able to write “The End”.
Let’s see if I succeed... Again, my thanks to all of those who made this
experience possible!
Eberhard Weber
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Concert organized and produced by Martin Mühleis,
sagas productions

Recorded by SWR, January 2015, at Theaterhaus Stuttgart

by Doris Hauser, Volker Neumann,
Boris Kellenbenz (technician)
Mixed at SWR Studio, Stuttgart,
by Volker Neumann (engineer), Manfred Eicher, Eberhard Weber
Pat Metheny’s ‘Hommage’ mixed in New York by Pete Karam
Mastering: Christoph Stickel at MSM Studios, München
Liner photos: Ralf Dombrowski, Arianna Tae Cimarosti (pp. 5, 6, 9),
Frank Paul Kistner (pp. 11, 22/23), Jörg Becker (p. 21)
Design: Bernd Kuchenbeiser

An ECM Production,
in collaboration with SWR

Redaktion: Günther Huesmann

SWR Big Band Manager: Hans-Peter Zachary

Pat Metheny appears courtesy of Nonesuch Records.

Gary Burton appears courtesy of Mack Avenue Records.

℗ 2015 Südwestrundfunk / ECM Records GmbH (post production),

licensed by SWR Media Services GmbH
© 2015 ECM Records GmbH
Additionally available as download only:
‘Street Scenes’, by Eberhard Weber, arranged by Libor Síma
ECM 2463 473 2342