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Recording Date: Jun 21, 1974 - Jun 22, 1974 Release Date: 1975 ECM Records -- Catalogue# 21047 Timeless is jazz guitarist John Abercrombie's debut album as leader, recorded in 1974. Critically acclaimed at the time, the album has since come to be regarded as a seminal work of jazz fusion, although the music itself is original enough to defy such categorisation. In Abercrombie's own words: "The original intent was to do something that reflected my origins, playing with organ groups in the late 60's". The album partnered Abercrombie with Jack DeJohnette and Czech keyboardist Jan Hammer on Hammond organ. Both had strongly established fusion credentials, Hammer on the keyboard and synths for the Mahavishnu Orchestra and on Billy Cobham's classic 1973 Spectrum, and DeJohnette, amongst others, on the Miles Davis album, Bitches Brew. Musically, Timeless takes its cues from all of these sources and is especially interesting for the input of creative players of the class of Hammer and DeJohnette. However, Abercrombie's touch is present throughout, resulting in a mood closer to In A Silent Way than Bitches Brew and a subtler and more restrained sound than much of the virtuoso fusion being played at the time. Four Abercrombie originals are played with two written by Hammer, "Lungs" and "Red and Orange". "Lungs" begins as a high-octane organ/guitar workout, which subsides and then shifts into a Billy-Cobham-esque R&B groove. "Red and Orange" is similarly aggressive, with Abercrombie's
