Stanley Cowell's Illusion Suite Returns to Vinyl

ECM has returned Stanley Cowell's Illusion Suite to vinyl. Cowell recorded it in New York in November 1972 with bassist Stanley Clarke and drummer Jimmy Hopps; the original album appeared the following year.

Those three names do not describe every sound on the record. ECM lists acoustic piano, electric piano and a thumb piano among Cowell's instruments, along with an overdub of Clarke's bowed bass. The studio lets the trio make more of those three parts than a live lineup would suggest.

Cowell wrote all six pieces. ECM describes Miss Viki in terms of funk and calls Emil Danenberg a polytonal ballad. In the label's descriptions, rhythm comes forward in one piece; the tension between tonal centres matters in the other. Miss Viki is a place to start listening, but it cannot stand for the whole album.