More clavinet! Can't stop playing this great album. A very unique stew of free jazz and left field dirty-funk proto break beats! Also one of the all time best recordings of upright bass imo. You can feel the bass in your gut but it's very natural sounding. Can anyone recommend some other recordings of drummer Fred Braceful besides Waldron's "the call"? I want to be in his fan club. [doesn't have to be ECM] Robin Kenyatta- The Girl from Martinique
Ralph Towner - Anthem (2001) ECM 1743, recorded February 2000 A favourite ECM of mine. Classical and 12-string guitar done right. Towner's compositions and his sense for breathing spaces are of utter greatness.
Gianluigi Trovesi Ottetto - Fugace (2003) ECM 1827, recorded June 2002 Talking about "upbeat" ECMs. It's even more than that... it's hilarious in parts. A crazy, almost parodistic melange of styles based on free jazz, ragtime, dixie, baroque music, folklore and it rocks too.
I found this one used about 6 months ago and absolutely love it - quite unique and style-wise all over the place.
Every time I start this album I flash back to the first time I heard it - that opening guitar on Two Folk Songs just blew me away back in the day. And holy crap Jack DeJohnette is just a force of nature on that track. Great album from start to finish.
One of the first modern jazz tracks I heard. I remember the theme sounded like one of the singer-songwriter pop songs I was hearing on the radio then but they took it somewhere very different in the improvisations.
I’m hoping they do a vinyl issue for this at some point. This is one of my favorite recent-ish ECM releases.
Until recently, I've never thought that ECM would ever reissue albums of the "digital-only" era on vinyl. The recent vinyl reissues from Molvaer, Garbarek, Brahem etc surely are a nice start and raise some hopes. Towner's Anthem would be a blast. I'm not sure how likely it is that they do Zsófia Boros or any other album from the New Series. They could have done a vinyl issue in the first place, it's not that old. My vinyl wish list would include Jarrett's Vienna Concert and La Scala and one of my alltime favourite albums (of any label): Eberhard Weber's Pendulum... (preferably on 2x45rpm). It's allowed to dream, isn't it?
Keith Jarrett - Paris Concert (1990) ECM 1401, recorded digitally October 17, 1988 at Salle Pleyel, Paris I passed on a couple of vinyl copies in the past. It's one of the few higher priced ECMs and 35-40€ is way too hefty for my taste. It's good (duh), but nothing I get the thrill out of it, so the CD is a-ok.
Does anyone know the album released by ECM of classical piano music by an East European composer, that was supposed to be really dark, and even described as "black"? I can't remember the name of the composer, but I believe there was only one ECM release. It's not the Arvo Part-style piano music they sometimes release, more modernist.
Cool. Your first question intrigued me and I've just looked in my collection but couldn't put my finger on it. Mosolov came to mind early though. Best thing is... I have this one. Haven't played it in yonks and can't remember zip of it.
Dave Holland Quintet - Not For Nothin' (2001) ECM 1758, recorded September 2000 at Avatar Studios, NY
FYI: Downbeat magazine Nov 2019 cover story on ECM Records: "Manfred Eicher's 50-Year Journey". Available in digital edition too.
I finished the quintet "trilogy" last night. These albums were quite the thing when they were released two decades ago and rightly so. Very warm and unified sound and production... runs down like melting buttah. Robin Eubanks on trombone is so good. Dave Holland Quintet - Points Of View (1998) ECM 1663, recorded September 1997 in NY
My favourite is "Prime Directive", but you really can't go wrong with any of those three. There's also a double album called "Extended Play - Live at Birdland" (ECM 1864) and as the title suggests it's a huge live set with their A material.
