''Rising Grace'' is a studio album by guitarist

Wolfgang Muthspiel Wolfgang Muthspiel (born 2 March 1965) is an Austrian jazz guitarist and record label owner. He is the brother of musician Christian Muthspiel. Music career When he was six, he began playing violin, and at fourteen he moved on to classical gui ...

, recorded in January 2016 and released by

ECM ECM may refer to the following: Economics and commerce * Engineering change management * Equity capital markets * Error correction model, an econometric model * European Common Market Mathematics * Lenstra's Elliptic curve method for factor ...

in October that year. His quintet contained trumpeter Ambrose Akinmusire, pianist

Brad Mehldau Bradford Alexander Mehldau (; born August 23, 1970) is an American jazz pianist, composer, and arranger. Mehldau studied music at The New School, touring and recording while still a student. He was a member of saxophonist Joshua Redman's quar ...

, bassist

Larry Grenadier Larry Grenadier (born February 6, 1966, in San Francisco) is an American jazz double bassist. Early life Grenadier's father was a trumpet player in World War II army bands and later in Europe but stopped playing professionally before his chi ...

, and drummer

Brian Blade Brian Blade (born July 25, 1970) is an American jazz drummer, composer, and session musician. Early life Born and raised in Shreveport, Louisiana, Blade was exposed to gospel and praise music while attending Zion Baptist Church at which his ...

."Rising Grace"
ECM Records. Retrieved 4 December 2016.

Background

Muthspiel's first album for ECM was ''Driftwood'' in 2014, a trio recording with bassist

and drummer

."Rising Grace"
ECM Records. Retrieved 4 December 2016. For ''Rising Grace'', trumpeter Ambrose Akinmusire and pianist

were added.

Music and recording

Muthspiel wrote all of the tracks, except for "Wolfgang's Waltz", which was composed by Mehldau. The recordings were made over three days in south-eastern France. The music does not follow the typical rhythm section plus soloists division, and "while some songs feature a conventional sequence of soloists, it's also common for Muthspiel, Akinmusire and Mehldau to share the soloing space as they weave melodies together."Hum, Peter (7 November 2016
"Wolfgang Muthspiel CD reviewed"
''Ottawa Citizen''. The album was released by ECM on CD and two LPs on 28 October 2016.

Reception

Critic John Fordham suggested that "the music mingles echoes of Kenny Wheeler, the classical guitar sound of Ralph Towner and the songlike one of Pat Metheny, plus the quickwittedness of the mid-60s Miles Davis group".Fordham, John (3 November 2016
"Wolfgang Muthspiel: Rising Grace Review – Oblique Music That Grows On You"
''The Guardian''. The ''

Ottawa Citizen The ''Ottawa Citizen'' is an English-language daily newspaper owned by Postmedia Network in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada. History Established as the Bytown ''Packet'' in 1845 by William Harris (journalist), William Harris, it was renamed the ''Ci ...

'' reviewer wrote: "Sonically ravishing and filled with profound, singular music that speaks beautifully of communion, ''Rising Grace'' will reward your full attention, over and over."

Track listing

Personnel

– guitar * Ambrose Akinmusire – trumpet *

– piano *

– double bass *

– drums

References

External links

*{{Discogs master, 1103780, Wolfgang Muthspiel – Rising Grace ECM Records albums