ECM: C/D, S&D

iirc Gary Burton played vibes on Tim Hardin's "Misty Roses" in 1966: among his finest two minutes' work.

Some nice ECM references in this massive Jim O'Rourke interview from this week.

Mark Isham & Art Lande's We Begin is a big favourite here in the sort of ambient-electronic ECM space. Mainly for the open track, with its amazing drum machine work.

windham hill is your new best friend

― ANU (sisilafami), Thursday, May 7, 2020 2:30 AM (yesterday) bookmarkflaglink

Kind of ... I think I want the windham hill side of ecm but windham is its own thing

I feel like Stephan Micus is probably what you're looking for then. His stuff embodies the windham wing of ECM (even if a lot of his best stuff was technically on JAPO).

Interesting ACL footage from the early days of the Pat Metheny Group. I've never completely warmed up to the first Group album, but it's neat to see them still kind of figuring it out. Lyle Mays (RIP) gets some particularly nice showcases here.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UweiNBl3TLQ&t=1096s

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UweiNBl3TLQ

Hmmmm

I'd like to pause for a moment to rep for Pat Metheny's eternally spectacular head of hair

It always looks like a bit more than his neck can sustain

I watched this just a few days ago, and yes mad props to PM's barnet.

Not on ECM, but Like Minds is Burton, Corea, Metheny, Holland, Haynes--here's the one I heard last night on Jazz For The New Millenium (Rick Mitchell's KBOO show, nationally distributed, named for his book): "Country Roads," a Burton original---incl. Metheny at his bluesiest...it's cool, Pops:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EOpEPs3P-IM
Album has some variety, 3 or 4 shades anyway, and I think the whole thing's on the 'Tube.

so i got ring in the mail yesterday. the first half is pretty solid, but if you really dig the second half and have never heard any of eberhard weber's albums. . .well friend, you are in for a treat. overall, good album.

related: anyone know this album? i thought i had it on vinyl, but checking my shelves reveals no such luck. i know i've listened to it ay some point in my life, but i don't recall much about it. a lot of the same band as on ring.

I believe Ring is also the first recorded appearance of Pat Metheny.

In related news, I got my copy of Chick Corea - Return to Forever in the mail yesterday.

Passengers is solid. Dreams So Real (The Music of Carla Bley) is also worth checking out. It features the Ring band minus Eberhard Weber, and the selection of Bley tunes is terrific - that's always been one of my favorites.

Didn't realize that was all Bley, will check. I've seen Passengers, which also has some early Metheny playing and writing, it sez here: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Passengers_(Gary_Burton_album)#cite_note-RSJRG-3

continuing my Jarrett gripes: staircase. another inessential Jarrett record on ecm in the 70s

Not a huge Burton fan, but I'm enjoying Dreams So Real. I'm guessing Carla Bley was a big influence for Metheny's more composition-heavy recordings that came later.

https://instagram.com/ecm_listening

found this account just now. seems relevant.

Lol, my entire Instagram feed is going to be ECM content

Haha, I posted that ECM Listening IG a bit further up. It's great!

Currently obsessing over the Edward Vesala album mentioned in the Jim O'rourke interview upthread - kind of dark spiritual jazz with awesome drummming and drone-y sections. This label keeps giving.

Poor description, great album.

Appealing description. Although drone-y can be overdone (ILX minority report, yes). Will check, thanks.

Satu is the 2nd album I've heard with Terje Rypdal where his playing sounds extremely similar to 80s Bill Frisell circa Power Tools (other was the first trio album with Vitous and DeJohnette). I have to imagine Frisell was studying these very closely.

Satu is the 2nd album I've heard with Terje Rypdal where his playing sounds extremely similar to 80s Bill Frisell circa Power Tools (other was the first trio album with Vitous and DeJohnette). I have to imagine Frisell was studying these very closely.

I think he did, as he's on this Rypdal-tribute that should appeal to ECM fans.

This is a beauty : https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=ukrdo696vBc

Satu rules but Nan Madol is one of the best ECM albums, full stop.

That Sky Music tribute-to-Rypdal set is fantastic. I visited the Rune Grammofon offices in Oslo a couple of years ago and bought a copy of the ultra-limited edition version (white vinyl, an extra CD).

How are those 2 extra tracks that aren't on the regular cd release, unperson? I still haven't heard those.

They're good - long guitar jams, but they hold your attention.

Damn, Yellow Fields is so good. Just endlessly flowing like a mountain stream.

Haha, listened to that earlier on this evening. Also Ring and Dreams So Real.

Quarantine is truly the Season of ECM

Pretty much!

Heard a couple of tracks from the Gateway album (mentioned above) recently for the first time. It was beautiful stuff, some of my favorite "new to me" guitar playing I have heard for some time. I have seen Abercrombie's forever, but I kind of chalked up a whole slew of folks from that era as jazz-fusion guys and most of that stuff for me didn't stick once it got to the mid-70s and beyond. But yeah, this I loved and wasn't that fusion-y at all. I actually made a comment to my friend that it sounded a bit like Frisell to me as well (which someone else noted above too). Gonna try to track that album down, had a joyous feel to it which is appreciated right now.

For those completists out there, playlists of the entire ECM catalog in chronological order.

https://open.spotify.com/playlist/54hZLPMDWjHVpCi9eJtUPB?si=g1uYq5RTT3eZZnaDy33lKQ

https://open.spotify.com/playlist/0XIVL6mL5DoUDF15bCYxF2?si=KSZeZnjrRHSHtB_o7RtnxA

Listening to ECM on Spotify seems totally at odds with the experience of actually listening to an ECM album but that's just me

there are a lot of them, and I only own a tiny fraction

to help make up for this I just snapped up a Ralph Towner vinyl 4 pack of Solstice, Matchbook, Diary, and Sargasso Sea for $30 off ebay.

Sargasso Sea is a really good one! I like Batik a lot, too. Never heard Diary or Matchbook.

I think I'm lapsing into full on WeberMania. In the last couple of days I've checked out 'Later That Evening', 'Little Movements', 'Passengers' & 'Fluid Rustle', all new to me, all of which have been good to great IMO. His sense of space and his overall tone really appeal to me.

His tone is a mystery to me. Sounds so much like a fretless bass a lot of the time. Much louder and sharper than most upright basses. I suppose a lot of that comes from amplification, but it is very unusual.

welcome to the club, sparkle. his music is wondrous and highly rewarding.

re: his tone — i've long suspected he used some subtle modulation effect of some sort. definitely not a flanger or phaser, but the jc-120 (the first instance of chorus that i know of) didn't get released until 1975. would be very curious to know, as well.

https://www.ecmrecords.com/shop/1580224264

Accordionist Jean-Louis Matinier (who was in some ace Brahem bands) with classical guitarist Seddeki on a virtuosic but still retaining some sense of looseness and soulfulness sort of nice album!

If I posted about every ECM discovery during Covid times, I’d need my own thread. And yet, a big thanks to those who mentioned Steve Tibbetts above. I managed to pick up a cheap copy of “Exploded View” and, wow, I wasn’t expecting that. Noisy, feedback-drenched guitar, tribal drums and tape experimentation. Another intriguing dimension of the label to explore.

cycled over to a 2nd hand record store yesterday... first vinyl purchase in months was a cheap copy of Ecotopia by Oregon.
it's a weird one... the two longest tracks are synth drenched and sort of messy... and i'm guessing the reasons why this LP has some bad reviews, everything that surrounds them is much much better. regardless of those 2 synth fests, as per usual everything is so beautifully recorded it doesn't really matter too much? for me, that element + amazing typography and design is the ECM trick for selling me even their shittier lps...

After devouring a steady diet of Weber over the last few months, I've come upon several Pat Metheny LPs lately and have been nuts about them. I tried listening to this stuff 20+ years ago and it all sounded too squishy for me, but now that I'm more squishy it sounds perfect. I can't believe I slept on 'As Falls Wichita' for as long as I did. I think I listened to the title cut half a dozen times in a row. I picked up the first Group LP, along with Offramp and Watercolors as well, all of which I'm crazy about. The synth stuff is perfection imo. Funny that I'm just digging this at this late date but I am who I am.

The ECM album I've been playing the most lately is Ralph Towner - Solstice. Especially love the track "Nimbus". Also a good album to check out for all you Weber heads.

I realized I had that one in my Discogs store inventory and after a few spins, delisted it. It's really good.

I managed to pick up a cheap copy of “Exploded View

nice. i highly recommend safe journey or northern song next. or yr.

or, you know, the entire catalogue. whatever.

The ECM album I've been playing the most lately is Ralph Towner - Solstice

Towner is among the most underrated ECM mainstays imo. I love Batik too, especially 'Waterwheel'.