ECM: C/D, S&D

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!

ECM's artwork over the last fifty years has evolved, for example the recent choice to put portraits of musicians on the covers or back (Avishai Cohen, Elina Duni) has been a striking change.

But has any release had such extremely un-ECM cover art as the new Vincent Courtois release? https://www.ecmrecords.com/catalogue/1578064137

The catalogue number is different: RJAL 397034. The cover art appears to be in keeping with their other releases in the series: https://www.ecmrecords.com/search-advanced/rjal.

Sorry, I goofed. The new Vincent Courtois release has a catalogue number RJAL 397034, which means it belongs to the La Buissonne side label, not ECM proper. But showing this album on the general ECM New Releases page makes it look really outlandish compared to its more typically austere neigbours.

I know, right? I mean...a serif font?

A lot of Carla Bley's albums have very goofy, un-ECM-ish cover art, but those were licensed from her to the label, so Manfred didn't have much input.

I liked this cover, from 2015 (and the music's really good too):

https://images-na.ssl-images-amazon.com/images/I/714t8cm9bQL.jpg

I've always thought the cover of The Colours of Chloe is very un-ECMish, but I guess it was early days then.

I know Kit Downes is probably tainted by being the regular token jazz nom for low level shite like the mercury/BBC awards for years, but I think his last two albums Obsidian/Dream Life of Debris are really beautiful. Pretty typical ECM covers though.

https://shop.new-art.nl/assets/image.php?width=800&image=/content/img/new_products_queue/1543327215.jpg

This one is the one that really struck me as an uncharacteristic ECM cover, though the font at the top ties it in with the aesthetic I guess.

love that album as well!

Bleeding Gums Murphy!

Agree, that latest Downes album is really good.

Heh, with that last cover art above, I imagine ECM having a photo just of the bridge and night skyline, and then Lovano’s manager or someone insisting that image of him playing sax be photoshopped in front of it.

just listened to that Mal Waldron Free At Last remaster, not that I've done any comparing with the original or neither am I an audiophile to any degree, but it sounds beautiful.

HUGE dud: Jan Garbarek (or "Janny G" as he's often nicknamed on the ECM list). Smooooth! etc

There were a couple of bootlegs of the Jan Garbarek Quartet with Terje Rypdal ca. 69-71 on the Inconstant Sol blog 5 years or so ago that I thought were pretty killer. Looks like they're gone now, that's a pity. Rypdal even got a couple of madcap Keith Rowe moments in IIRC.

Ah shit, just found out that Jon Christensen, brilliant house drummer of sorts to ECM artists has passed.

Figured this thread is a good place to post that I'm enjoying this IG account that's taking a look at all ECM albums in chronological order: https://www.instagram.com/ecm_listening/

It's a simple premise but fun to follow. Some of these early releases are blowing my mind. I particularly love the albums from Terje Rypdal, Marion Brown and Stanley Cowell Trio covered so far.

What exactly caused ECM’s nadir of the mid-late 1980s? Was it a matter of most of the ECM stable producing poor work at this time? Or was it a matter of Eicher choosing only to release the bad stuff?

A bit of the latter, a lot of the former as far as I can tell. Since I've got too much time on my hands, I may try to come up with a 'best of ECM in the 80s' list just for the hell of it.