 JOHN ABERCROMBIE Born in Portchester, New York, John Abercrombie was a young guitarist, well into the rock n' roll of the 50s, before he discovered jazz through a Barney Kessel record. Thus, in 1962 when he moved to Boston to attend Berklee, he "was into jazz, but couldn't really play it." Great instructors, practice and hard work ensured that by the time Abercrombie left Boston, he "was pretty much playing the best commercial gigs in town." It started with a gig lead by Prestige-signed organist Johnny "Hammond" Smith. And it continued on, as he honed his chops with Monty Stark and the Stark Reality. "I remember receiving a phone call from Monty to do the music for the Say Brother show which was on GBH," Abercrombie recalls. "The Stark Reality was actually a quintet - I think I became the fifth member." As the youngest member of the group, Abercrombie had to put up with some well-placed ribbing. Especially coming from saxophonist Carl Atkins. "I remember playing at My Apartment Lounge 'cause I had just got my fuzz tone," Abercrombie remembers. "And I plugged it in and I remember Carl looking at me and saying, 'What are you doing, I'm the sax player here!' Making fun of me in a nice way, but that's what I wanted to do." When asked about Stark himself, Abercrombie states, "He was a real bonafide genius of a jazz musician. I remember being completely mesmerized by the guy and how deep he was. He was technically well-equipped, but the music wasn't about that to him. He was going for a sound." A sound that collaborator Phil Morrison helped bring to the table as well. "Phil would randomly find places to slip and slide and then come back to playing the rhythm. It created this effect - you felt that the band was gonna explode," Abercrombie explains. "It suspended the band, and kinda set us apart from a rock band in that the rhythm was steady, but what was going on around it was pretty bizarre. I think Phil was the main culprit in that!" Now, Abercrombie is regarded as one of the finest jazz guitar players. But 30-something years ago in Boston, he was but a hungry young man, eager to play with a dynamite group of musicians. "I loved the band. And listening to that music again brings me back to how brilliant Monty was," Abercrombie states, echoing the comments of his Stark Reality band mates. "I think of that again, and again. He had something that was so unique - in the way he played and put things together, that I think was very profound."  ECM Artists Convolution with Mark Feldman, Marc Johnson, and Joey Baron 
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