Grazing Dreams is the second album by American sitarist and composer Collin Walcott, recorded in February 1977 and released on ECM later that year. Walcott's quintet features trumpeter Don Cherry and rhythm section John Abercrombie, Palle Danielsson, and Dom Um Romão.[1]

Grazing Dreams
Studio album by
Released1977 (1977)
RecordedFebruary 1977 (1977-02)
StudioTalent Studio
Oslo, Norway
GenreJazz
Length46:19
LabelECM
ECM 1096 ST
ProducerManfred Eicher
Collin Walcott chronology
Cloud Dance
(1976)
Grazing Dreams
(1977)
Dawn Dance
(1981)

Reception

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Professional ratings
Review scores
SourceRating
AllMusic     [2]
The Penguin Guide to Jazz    [4]
The Rolling Stone Jazz Record Guide     [3]

Writing for All About Jazz, John Kelman called the album "a truly deep recording that makes Walcott's death in a car accident while on tour with Oregon... all the more tragic", and noted that Walcott was "truly one of the earliest musicians to explore the integration of music from other cultures into an improvised jazz setting."[5]

The Penguin Guide to Jazz Recordings states, "The quartet format ... inevitably anticipates Walcott's and Cherry's work with Codona, and the long 'Song of the Morrow' is a perfect encapsulation of the group's idiom."[4]

In an post on ECM blog Between Sound and Space, Tyran Grillo wrote: "Grazing Dreams is structured as long-form whole in which individual tracks blend into the overarching power that binds them," and commented: "The engineering of this album is ahead of its time. Considering the way each track evolves, an attuned sensibility was clearly required to bring out the music's full breadth. Case in point: the way the buzzing solitude that opens 'Gold Sun' gradually develops into a honeyed elaboration of sitar and bass is nothing short of astonishing. Each tune is spun from the same cloth, dyed in real time with the languid syncopation of improvisers who feel what they hear. Gentility through strength is the backbone of Grazing Dreams, a poignant and timeless statement spun from the ether of dreams."[6]

Track listing

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All tracks are written by Collin Walcott except as indicated

Side I: Changeless Faith
No.TitleWriter(s)Length
1."Song of the Morrow" 9:15
2."Gold Sun"
  • Don Cherry
  • Collin Walcott
7:03
3."The Swarm" 6:09
4."Mountain Morning" 1:58
Total length:24:25
Side II
No.TitleWriter(s)Length
1."Jewel Ornament"
  • Cherry
  • John Abercrombie
  • Walcott
5:04
2."Grazing Dreams" 6:53
3."Samba Tala"
  • Dom Um Romão
  • Walcott
1:30
4."Moon Lake" 8:27
Total length:21:54 46:19

Personnel

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Musicians

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Technical personnel

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References

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  1. ^ ECM discography accessed April 6, 2021
  2. ^ Nastos, M. G.AllMusic Review accessed September 8, 2011
  3. ^ Swenson, J., ed. (1985). The Rolling Stone Jazz Record Guide. USA: Random House/Rolling Stone. pp. 200. ISBN 0-394-72643-X.
  4. ^ a b Cook, Richard; Morton, Brian (1998). The Penguin Guide to Jazz on CD. Penguin Books. pp. 1525–1526.
  5. ^ Kelman, John (December 23, 2014). "Collin Walcott: Grazing Dreams". All About Jazz. Retrieved April 6, 2021.
  6. ^ Grillo, Tyran (February 14, 2010). "Collin Walcott: Grazing Dreams". Between Sound and Space. Retrieved April 6, 2021.