Though he’d been active for a good decade-plus with Gary Burton, Woody Herman, and others, Mick Goodrick didn’t put out his first album as a leader until 1979. In Pas(s)ing (which was first reissued on CD in 2019, and comes out again as part of ECM’s vinyl reissue series) combines the atmospheric chamber production that is the label’s trademark with the guitarist’s straightahead jazz leanings. Backed by bassist Eddie Gomez, saxophonist/bass clarinetist John Surman, and drummer Jack DeJohnette (Goodrick’s once and future employer), Goodrick concentrates less on setting himself up for solos, and more on constructing the sonic galaxy in which his musicians will operate. Though as fine a soloist as anyone (ask his students, including Bill Frisell, John Scofield, Julian Lage, Mike Stern, and so many others), here Goodrick mostly plays the melodies and lets Surman and Gomez take center stage when it’s time for lead breaks. There are exceptions of course – check out his exceptional solos on the moody “Pedalpusher” and the frisky “Summer Band Camp,” on which he both tastefully shows off and sets up space for Gomez to take the spotlight. Instead the album displays his talents as composer and bandleader, from the playful “Feebles, Fables and Ferns” (later re-recorded on his recently released posthumous duo album with pianist Fred Hersch) to the expansive group composition “In Passing.” Beautifully written and stunningly performed, In Pas(s)ing is a remarkably ego-less album for a respected musician finally given the spotlight, and is well worth the time for jazz fans, guitar nerds, and aficionados of tuneful improvisation.
