Vinyl Vault—Three Day Moon

Election night. Three days after Halloween. A waning moon. Ominous. Tuesday November 3. Will it be a night like no other? Time will tell. No matter what happens, the Vinyl Vault has the perfect soundtrack: “Three Day Moon,” a 1979 ECM album by American bassist Barre Phillips.

Phillips is joined on the album by Terje Rypdal on guitar, guitar synth and organ, Dieter Feichtner on synthesizer and Trilock Gurtu on tabla and percussion. The album was recorded in Oslo, Norway and exudes that classic, dreamy, ethereal ECM sound of the 70s.

The album has been described as “grandiose, cinematic and meticulously constructed.” Some selections can be hypnotic, trance-inducing, vaguely threatening like a far-off thunderstorm headed your way. Other selections introduce a bit of swing but still maintain an air of mystery.

Barre, certainly an underrated talent, has a sensuous, intimate relationship with his bass and that feeling underpins the entire album. Rypdal’s guitar floats above the dreamscape like a silk scarf caught by a swirling breeze among skyscrapers. Feichtner’s synth washes lurk forebodingly in the background while Gurtu’s tablas, usually in conjunction with Phillips’ bass, establish an anchor, sometimes a lifeline to semi-normal consciousness.

So check it out: the cure for the Halloween hangover, the antidote for election hysteria, “Three Day Moon,” three days after the Halloween full moon. You’ll find it on the Vinyl Vault, Tuesday, November 3 at 8:30 pm on KUVO JAZZ.

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