ECM: C/D, S&D

really feeling new Tord Gustavsen album tonight, sort of textbook downbeat, bluesy ECM piano trio classicism, but quite powerful and moving stuff.

thanks for the recommendation, sounds very good indeed

Happy he's returned to the trio format. Did not enjoy What Was Said at all.

Been listening to Rainer Bruninghaus' 'Continuum' from 1984 while working this week, it's a nimble and kinda spindly, looking out the window with nothing to do on a rainy day, sounding record.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9ooEv70T0oY

Eicher put together this tribute to Tomasz Stanko:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GOJ4KJz97xo

Wonderful album, thanks for the recommendation. Unobtrusive, subtle music to daydream and look out of the window to. I think it would also be great to write existential love letters to.

I meant the Brüninghaus album...

Listening to the Brüninghaus album right now. It's absolutely gorgeous.

I've only dipped a couple of toes into EM, but this is my favourite era - whether the tonal palette started to get fleshed out a little with synths and digital reverb units.

Has this ever been discussed? Total banger.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NX6-pNcJqko

* dipped a couple of toes into ECM, obviously.

That's great, Isham only made one record for ECM?

I feel a bit of an early/mid-eighties rabbit hole coming on, see if I can find some more records with that integrated synth feel.

He played on a few other records, but this is his only album as a leader.
https://www.ecmrecords.com/artists/1435045855/mark-isham

Would love some recommendations of other synthy titles.

I will report back on my findings, I'm kinda intrigued by 'Ecotopia' by Orgeon based on the Allmusic review quoted in it's Wikipedia entry.

"there is no excuse for this waste of studio time and Manfred Eicher's energy. It is no wonder that he began the ECM New Series a few years before, given the junk churned out by some of label's stable between 1983 and 1988, and this record is a stellar example. Simply put, this is a trite, new age piece of dreck slopped out by a group of musicians whose combined creativity should always take them to stellar heights. There are no redeeming tracks on this disc, and few redeeming moments "

That sounds exactly like my kind of thing.

Looks like Ralph Towner's on that one - his Blue Sun has loads of synth all over it.

It's interesting to hear synths used in this context, rather than 'pure' electronic music which tends to put a premium on sound design over playing chops. It's sometimes quite jarring to hear a DX7 on one of these records, played virtuosically but using some hoary old presets.

This might be a good jumping off point.

https://thevinylfactory.com/features/vf-mix-ecm-by-arp/

Brilliant - yes, that looks like a great place to start!

Surman & DeJohnette's Adventures of Simon Simon would fit

Another Brüninghaus from an earlier record released in '80, this has an almost John Carpenter-y looping synth/electric piano line.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Mg2214arX04

Ecotopia is pretty bland for Oregon, not sure if there is nothing to keep but they have done much better.

Surman & DeJohnette's Adventures of Simon Simon would fit

yeah i really like Surman's use of synth vs sax overdubs, really unique - withholding pattern and upon reflection are my favourites in this vein

big fan of that isham album too

i had somehow missed that Tomasz Stanko died - seeing him play with his Polish quartet is a top 10 show for me

That Brüninghaus album is so great, thanks for the rec.

The new album "Helsinki Songs" by Norwegian sax player Trygve Seim and his quartet is grand cru. Kristjan Randalu's subtle piano play is wonderful.

oh hell yeah

so much good scandi jazz

If you're buying the Art Ensemble box in-person, you might want to make sure all discs are there before you check out. My box has two copies of New Directions (XVI) and no copies of Far Side (XIV).

Very clear and fjordian

Accurate.

I think David Torn's 'cloud about mercury' was just reissued.

They're reissuing 50 titles on CD in cardboard sleeves - the first 25 on February 1, and the rest in May. This is the first batch:

Paul Bley • Ballads
Chick Corea • Piano Improvisations Vol. 1
Ralph Towner/Gary Burton • Matchbook
Barre Phillips • Mountainscapes
Eberhard Weber • The Following Morning
Pat Metheny • Watercolors
Mick Goodrick • In Pas(s)ing
George Adams • Sound Suggestions
Leo Smith • Divine Love
Jan Garbarek/Kjell Johnsen • Aftenland
Steve Tibbetts • Northern Song
Mike Nock • Ondas
Keith Jarrett/Gary Peacock/Jack DeJohnette • Standards Vol. 1
Kenny Wheeler • Double Double You
John Abercrombie • Night
Dave Holland Quintet • Seeds of Time
David Torn • Cloud About Mercury
Terje Rypdal & The Chasers • Blue
Dino Saluzzi • Andina
Louis Sclavis Quintet • Rouge
Miroslav Vitous/Jan Garbarek • Atmos
John Surman/John Warren • The Brass Project
Stephan Micus • To the Evening Child
Bobo Stenson Trio • War Orphans
Peter Erskine Trio • Juni

I'm definitely buying Divine Love and maybe Double Double You.

ugh, cardboard sleeves.

I'll still buy a few.

David Torn is a given, yes, but anyone who doesn't know the Goodrick, Tibbetts, and Barre Philips titles here in particular should snatch them up asap. Massively underrated ECM titles imo

I'm assuming there's no need to remaster any of these, so these are likely just straight reissues of the previously CD versions, right?

Ondas is pretty classic as well.

which ones of those are fjordian

TIA

not fjordian at all but I love some Dino Saluzzi and his version of the Haden/Bley classic Silence (with Haden) is so beautiful.

If you've never heard it, this would be the perfect time to dig in to Eberhard Weber's the Following Morning.

Also, everyone should buy Northern Song, too!

These re-issues are great news. On another note, I've checked the "Offers" section on the ECM homepage and noticed these are different titles than when I checked last time (around December).

i'm liking Yonathan Avishai's Joys and Solitudes. No mystic fjords but it is lovely and subtle.

Is it just me, or have ECM New Series releases really dropped off? This seems to have happened around the release of the Kurtág box set. I wonder if that project involved such financial expenditure for ECM that Manfred Eicher won’t get around to recording more avant-garde classical until the main ECM label releases something popular and relatively high-selling that can subsidize the ECM New Series side of the label (historically, this has been yet another Keith Jarrett release, but Jarrett probably doesn’t move units like he used to).

It's not just you, and it saddens me to no end.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9nOqxTdQiKQ

Posted this on the Bill Frisell thread, but I listened to the Frisell/Thomas Morgan live album Epistrophy a bunch today, and really enjoyed it. Frisell in chill improv mode is great.

Checking out their previous one, Small Town, now

I think the new Kit Downes album the nicely titled Dreamlife Of Debris is a lovely album, loved Obsidian as well. Also cool that he recorded his church organ pieces at St Paul's Hall in the cultural wasteland that is Hudds again!

Well, this fucking sucks:

How many of the moments of genuine peace in your lives do you owe to Jan Erik Kongshaug, the legendary Norwegian sound engineer behind the sound of ECM Records, who passed away today?

— Brent S. Sirota (@BrentSirota) November 5, 2019

Oh no. Fuck, that's horrible. RIP.

:(((

I wonder how far this documentary got: https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1919963818/jan-erik-kongshaug-dokumentar/posts/2472853

rip to a real one

shit missed this revive. RIP Jan

Mal Waldron - Free At Last, the Extended Anniversary Edition is issued as an audiophile vinyl double album.
Revisited and remastered, with additional takes + 16 page booklet.
Pre-order here: https://t.co/hJ6meW7ftB pic.twitter.com/brJole1eMs

— ECM Records (@ECMRecords) November 8, 2019

I’m finding a lot of these records sound *incredible* on good stereo speakers. Tord Gustavsen Extended Circle is the latest one to really grab me. Opener “Right There” is a stark, stately thing of beauty.

Nice thing by Richard Williams on the 50th anniversary - with a Top 20 (19): https://thebluemoment.com/2020/01/03/ecm-at-50/

no Mal Waldron no cred imo!