ECM s/d.

However, the Kenny Wheeler big band album on ECM (Music For Large and Small Ensembles) isn't even in the same league as the one he did for Incus (Song For Someone) - partly because of the Eicher ambience (works better for the small groups, but not for the big band) and partly because in the 1974 big band Wheeler had Derek Bailey and Tony Oxley in the line-up, whereas in the ECM big band he had John Abercrombie and Peter Erskine. Parker and Rutherford also sound a lot more muted. Song For Someone urgently needs a CD reissue - Parker's tenor exploding at the climax of "The Good Doctor" is a classic improv moment of p*nct*m.

http://image.allmusic.com/00/amg/cov200/drc600/c626/c62668oksu1.jpg
http://image.allmusic.com/00/acg/cov200/cl800/l867/l86757n5oqc.jpg

http://image.allmusic.com/00/amg/cov200/drc600/c626/c62668oksu1.jpg
http://image.allmusic.com/00/acg/cov200/cl800/l867/l86757n5oqc.jpg

Most of my favorite records on the label are just good ensembles which just happened to release records on ECM, not necessarily sterling examples of the ECM aesthetic. So, yeah the Circle record, the Marion Brown record, all the Art Ensemble stuff, the Music Improvisation Company record, the Bailey/Holland duet, the Hal Russell NRG Ensemble records + Hal's Bells, the Evan Parker Electro-Acoustic Ensemble records, etc. Didn't really care for Leo Smith's record on the label, though. Oh, the Nouvelle Vague soundtrack is fun too.

Also, search: Art Ensemble of Chicago's great 'Nice Guys' record, and of course the last few Dave Holland Quintet records which are both incredibly classic and non-ECMish.

I think I'm more kindly disposed to the ECM 'sound' (and think that's too often overstated, anyway) 'cos I cld list TONS of great mainstreamish jazz albs they've released: just last year, 'Rosslyn' by John Taylor, 'Extended Play' by Dave Holland, 'Changing Places' by Tord Gustavson and 'Universal Syncopations' by Miroslav Vitous were all really solid ECM recs.

(X-post w/ Jordan -yeah I think that might be the Gustavson rec I just mentioned. And the AEOC 'rarum' collection usefully collects together the best things from the mostly rather patchy 70s/80s ECM albs...)

did JAPO come first ? anyone know what JAPO is and where it fits in ?

I remembered another one that I have to go back and listen to...this John Abercrombie organ trio record called Tactics that I remember being overly blurry and atmospheric (in playing and sound) except for a couple tracks, but I might like it a lot more now.

http://image.allmusic.com/00/amg/cov200/dre200/e255/e25527nfmrt.jpg

Also, those 80s Jack DeJohnette Special Edition records are mostly pretty great, I always mean to check out more of them. I just looked at the ECM website, some of those 'selected recordings' comps look pretty tempting.

http://images.amazon.com/images/P/B00000320E.01.LZZZZZZZ.jpg

this would be one of my favourite records, the 'touchstone' if you like for my interest in free jazz. Ostensibly on the muso's own JCOA label dating from when it was recorded in the '60s (jazz composers orchestra of _america_ i suppose), yes it turns up packaged and distributed by ECM. I should know, since i've leant several copies of it to people who've liked it so much they've kept it that i've re-bought it 3 times.
Ironic, ridiculous but typical and sad i suppose that it gets shuffled off, not included in ECMs proper catalog. and really Phil ? not available in america? really ?

[img]http://image.allmusic.com/00/amg/cov200/drd900/d999/d99906r2msg.jpg[/img]

"Trance" by Steve Kuhn is also excellent.

S.

I've picked up on all of these ECM releases in the last year or so and have enjoyed each of them. Not every record is perfect, but there is some great stuff in there.

The best two Burton records are Passengers and Ring, where Weber guests in his band as a second bassist. Some of the lineups on the Burton records are pretty unique with two electric guitarists (one on 12 string), sometimes two basses, Burton on vibes and a drummer. It is electric jazz, but not really fusion compared to stuff like Weather Report or Mahavishnu.

I've really liked Eberhard Weber's stuff, it is an odd mix of jazz and that minimalist symphonic music like Steve Reich or Phillip Glass. The records sound pretty contemporary sounding considering they are 20-30 years old, in fact some of the more Reich styled pieces would not sound out of place on a Tortoise record. Bill Frisell and Jan Garbarek guest on Little Movements. Pendulum is a Weber overdubbed bass orchestra record. It is a pretty unique sounding record. Overall, it may not be hot and swinging jazz, but I think Weber made some interesting records. The guy pretty much just works as a sideman for the last ten or twelve years or so with Jan Garbarek and hasn't put out but a couple of albums.

On the non-glacier front, Jon Balke & Batagraf's new album blows me away.

Destroy: Heiner Goebbels. Tried, tried, and tried to get into his work, but it didn't happen.

I've got Thimar by Anouar Brahem which has Dave Holland and John Surman, but have only given it a couple of full plays. It hasn't really stuck with me either way.

I've also got a few of the Rarum collections including the one on The Art Ensemble of Chicago, Bill Frisell and Jan Garbarek. I think the Art Ensemble is the best of the three. I like the real icy stuff on the Garbarek album, but some of the I guess world fusion/classical kind of music I did not really get. The Frisell one is also a good listen.

Another ECM artist I have a couple of records by that are pretty good are John Abercrombie's Timeless and a couple of the Gateway trio records with Jack DeJohnette and Dave Holland. Cinematic Orchestra must like some Abercrombie, as I think they sampled him a couple of times.

I would like to hear some of Paul Motian's trio albums with Frisell and Joe Lovano. I'd also like to get Ralph Towner's "Solstice".

'universal syncopations' by miroslav vituous is pretty great, and 'suspended night' by tomasz stanko is really great.

any more good shit of recent vintage to check out?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iqG0oZ2MFBs

I'll rep for that whole album, as well as Lloyd's "Sangam".

thanks - tho I meant a physical copy!

― licorice oratorio (baaderonixx), Friday, 17 June 2011 10:34 (3 hours ago) Bookmark Suggest Ban Permalink

I had a feeling you meant that as soon as I posted it.

I've been exploring ECM releases recently with some help from this thread (and the other one). So far I've picked up John Abercrombie's "Gateway" and Eberhard Weber's "Colors of Chloe", both of which are exactly the sort of thing I was looking for - atmospheric, pretty but with enough going on to save them from being background music. "Gateway" is a bit more fusion-y, and "Chloe" is more minimalist, but both are great.

if you like calm, impressionist, folk-based jazz with a world touch i'd recommend anouar brahem, eg conte de l'incroyable amour. brahem is a tunisian oud player and the sound of his music is rather restrained and slightly oriental. one of the best on ecm these days.

Revive this. I just discovered the entire ECM catalog is on Mog.

The first record by Rainer Brüninghaus, Eberhard Weber's keyboardist in Colors, is awesome. Kenny Wheeler and Jon Christiansen. No bass!

Other finds via MOG:

Azimuth -- Kenny Wheeler, Norma Winstone on cox and John Taylor on piano and Berlin-sounding EMS arpeggios. 1977! Pieces of this feel like Klaus Schulze and Joni Mitchell getting high on a mountaintop somewhere.

Jack DeJohnette and John Surman -- The Amazing Adventures of Simon Simon. More synths -- this time with bass clarinet and congas. Very cool.

Barre Phillps -- Mountainscapes. Yet more synths!! Feisty and swinging, synths provide atmosphere and texture for John Surman to bounce off. Again: 1976.

Keith Jarrett -- Spheres. Another record which has traces of Krautrock, and from the most unlikely of places. "Spheres, 9th Movement" sounds like something from Tangerine Dream before they left Ohr. Not thinking the similarities are intentional.

Eberhard Weber -- The Following Morning. In the non-electronic ECM edition, this comes w Rainer Brüninghaus on piano, but no percussion, just orchestra. Big fan of Weber's Pendulum as well, which is overdubbed bass -- which in his case is awesome, not horrifying.

Spheres has just been reissued; was sent a link to download it. Maybe now I will.

nice mix
http://www.imposemagazine.com/bytes/new-music/anenon-all-ecm-everything-mix

i identify with this label too much, i think.

some of their classical stuff is not so great, maybe.

jamming a whole bunch of ECM paul bley albums recently.

a few years ago i bought an eberhard weber LP just b/c it looked really nice and was like $12 for a NM LP. wasn't sure what to expect. ended up really really digging it.

open, to love. is possibly my favorite 1960s-or-late solo piano record

1960s-or-later. i can't type today

"ida lupino" is the highlight for me

the fairly recent Alexei Lubimov disc of all the Debussy Preludes is among the best ever made of those pieces.

All of their Kurtag releases rule.

I wish I had a copy of Kim Kashkashian/Robert Levin's recording of the Brahms Viola Sonatas.

i hate that every time i see the name Kim kashkashian I think Kim Kardashian

though kim kardashian also has an album on ECM. it's a trio record with paul motian and jack dejohnette, i believe.

(gets busy making mock-up ECM album cover featuring a pastoral landscape with the title "sex tape" superimposed in a sans-serif font)

hahahaha!

fun listening to this ECM mix without checking the tracklist first

roffles

kim kardashian is a filthy whore

cheers,
n

celebrity sex tapes are everywhere nowadays

yeah, though i wish i hadn't seen the paul/carla bley one, lots of awkward silences

http://ecmreviews.files.wordpress.com/2014/07/elixir.jpg

This is my favourite ECM release of recent years. I love Marilyn Mazur's band albums a lot too (though the best of those aren't on ECM, but on various Scandinavian lables), but there's just something beautifully primal about the combination of mere percussion and sax... I'm not sure if you should even call this jazz, it's just some deep organic ambient cowbell chants.

Ah, this is what I needed today, Tuomas, thanks!

Recently I picked up a free ECM sampler from 2011 or something, and a Jacob Young track on there called "Time Rebel" really stood out. I'd post a link but it's not on Youtube. Anyway, the tune is just beautiful, especially the percussion. I guess they are playing "time," but damn if I know what it is! The whole album is really, err, impressionistic, really haunted-sounding. The album doesn't deviate stylistically much from the one track I heard, which is fine by me. I will concede that something about the tone of the tone of the trumpet occasionally reminds me of Chuck Mangione, but, well...minor complaint.

Also, TS: Windham Hill Vs ECM? Actually, nevermind, I may start a separate thread for that.

not one mention of Mal Waldron on this thread and he was ECM_001 and pretty fucking badass!

think he was also the first release on japo (ecm sister label?) featuring wolfgang dauner's rhythm section of the time... (add to the list of albums i need to hear)

Sieg Haile off his Moods album is ridic+

I hate that none of this is streaming now that Mog is dead.

Reading about MOG it looks like it was the grandfather? of Apple Music, so does anyone know why ECM isn't on there?

I'd guess that Eicher - a known stickler for sound quality - would not really be into streaming.

Maybe not – but he did license the entire ECM catalogue to MOG.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6hk7fFzPGxM

Search "Silence" (Charlie Haden) from Magico (Haden, Gismonti, Garbarek). So simple and so sad. The tune is like an arrow made from a feather piercing my heart.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AW93IP5tnY0