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Release date: 25 August ECM
BOBO STENSON TRIO Cantando CD 1775462
Swedish master pianist Bobo Stenson and long term bassist Anders Jormin - now joined by responsive young drummer Jon Fält - have developed a richly detailed sound-world like nothing else in modern jazz. To follow the magnificent Goodbye album, Cantando features a characteristically broad programme, with original pieces by Jormin, group improvising and music by Peter Eben, Alban Berg, Ornette Coleman, Don Cherry, Astor Piazzolla and Silvio Rodriguez.
The trio makes a major tour of the UK and Ireland from 18-26 October.
VASSILIS TSABROPOULOS / Melos CD 1757980
ANJA LECHNER / U T GANDHI
The keenly anticipated follow-up to Chants, Hymns and Dances, the best-selling 2004 release by German cellist Anja Lechner and Greek pianist Vassilis Tsabropoulos, Melos likewise features memorable Tsabropoulos and Gurdjieff compositions, but reverses the ratio while the duo’s beautifully expressive playing of the melodies is now augmented by contributions from Italian jazz drummer U.T. Gandhi.
SAVINA YANNATOU / Primavera en Salonico Songs Of An Other CD 1772720
The third ECM album – and the best yet – by “amazingly versatile”, resourceful Greek singer Savina Yannatou and her exciting band Primavera en Salonico is a magical recording, with achingly beautiful melodies, and spirited improvising erupting out of the arrangements of traditional songs from Armenia, Bulgaria, Serbia, Kazakhstan, Southern Italy as well as Greece.
Release date: 25 August WATT / ECM
CARLA BLEY BIG BAND Appearing Nightly CD 1725516
Appearing Nightly is celebrated pianist, composer and band leader Carla Bley’s nostalgic homage to the great big bands and songwriters that dominated American popular music in the first half of the 20th century: a resolutely contemporary live album, recorded in Paris, with particularly stellar contributions by saxophone soloists Andy Sheppard and Wolfgang Puschnig, trumpeter Lew Soloff and trombonist Gary Valente.
Release date: 23 June ECM
KETIL BJØRNSTAD The Light CD 1757977
Celebrated Norwegian jazz pianist, composer and writer Ketil Bjørnstad’s new ECM recording, a complete contrast to his rocking album with Terje Rypdal earlier this year, sets his own lyrics in Four Nordic Songs and the poetry of John Donne in the song-cycle The Light to music of ravishing beauty. They are performed by one of Norway’s greatest singers, Randi Stene, and “the giant of the Nordic viola” Lars Anders Tomter, with Bjørnstad himself on piano.
STEPHAN MICUS Snow CD 1762533
The unique, imaginary ‘world music’ that renowned multi-instrumentalist and world traveller Stephan Micus has created over three decades has attracted a substantial cult following. This 18th album for ECM, inspired by travels in Armenia and the mountains of the Caucasus, centres on the double-reed duduk, featuring it in unprecedented combinations with African, Asian, South and North American and European instruments, and the human voice.
Release date: 26 May ECM
MATHIAS EICK with Jon Balke / Stian Carstensen The Door CD 1757979
Young Norwegian trumpeter Mathias Eick, frontline soloist in the Manu Katché Group, makes his leader debut with a top flight band including highly imaginative pianist Jon Balke and Farmers Market accordionist Stian Carstensen, here playing pedal steel guitar. Lyrical slow burning solos from Eick, deep grooves from the band, hook-laden tunes and strong soloing make this album likely to be one of the season’s most popular.
Release date: 28 April ECM
JOHN SURMAN / HOWARD MOODY Rain on the Window CD 1715540
A very special project in the discography of saxophonist John Surman, one of ECM’s most admired musicians: an album of intimate duets with organist Howard Moody that moves the music forward. SEE MORE
MARILYN CRISPELL Vignettes CD 1745277
Vignettes is the first ECM solo album from “highly regarded” American pianist Marilyn Crispell and an important addition to the ranks of classic solo piano discs on the label including landmark jazz recordings by Keith Jarrett, Chick Corea and Paul Bley.
SEE MORE
DANS LES ARBRES (inc Christian Wallumrød) Dans les arbres CD 1762506
Dans les arbres is both band name and album title of this new improvising Norwegian-French collective of radical sound-makers that includes acclaimed pianist Christian Wallumrød. A fresh slant on European improvising is provided by acoustic music that frequently sounds electronic, with something archaic, ritualistic and consistently intriguing about it.
Release date: 24 March ECM
NORMA WINSTONE Distances CD 1754923
Revelatory new album from England’s finest jazz singer Norma Winstone, her first for ECM in a decade, leading an inspired trio with German reedman Klaus Gesing and Italian pianist Glauco Venier, both in their label debuts. Original material co-composed by the trio, plus cover versions from Cole Porter to Peter Gabriel, tributes to Coltrane and Pasolini, a free calypso, and pieces inspired by folk music and Satie, add up to very possibly her best ever recording.
CHARLES LLOYD QUARTET Rabo de Nube CD 1754811
Charles Lloyd celebrates his 70th birthday in March and ECM marks the occasion with a live album, recorded in Basel last year, featuring a revamped quartet with young stars Jason Moran on piano, Reuben Rogers on bass, and drummer Eric Harland. Exciting set includes the Lloyd classic Sweet Georgia Bright plus new material, both up-tempo and ballad-oriented, and the title track, a beautiful cover of Cuban singer-songwriter Silvio Rodríguez’s tune.
EVAN PARKER / Transatlantic Art Ensemble Boustrophedon CD 1750054
Saxophonists/improvisers/composers Evan Parker and Roscoe Mitchell assembled the Transatlantic Art Ensemble from the ranks of their respective groups for a remarkable concert in Munich in 2004. Parker’s often beautiful music for that occasion – its emotional character lies somewhere between Gil Evans and Luigi Nono – is featured here, with superb playing from the whole ensemble, especially by the saxophonists and pianist Craig Taborn.
AZIMUTH (N Winstone/K Wheeler/J Taylor) Azimuth / The Touchstone / Départ 3CD 5230102
Norma Winstone’s trio with German reedman Klaus Gesing and Italian pianist Glauco Venier is without doubt the strongest band Winstone has worked with since the heyday of Azimuth and to emphasize the historical connection, ECM is re-promoting the three-CD Azimuth box set comprising the albums “Azimuth”, “The Touchstone” and “Départ”,
and so we are making it available at a reduced price.
Release date: 25 February ECM
KETIL BJØRNSTAD / TERJE RYPDAL Life In Leipzig CD 1755891
Norwegians Ketil Bjørnstad and Terje Rypdal - a rare and possibly unique duo combination of electric guitar and acoustic piano - in an exciting live album recorded before an enthusiastic audience in Leipzig’s Opera House. This strongly melodic, often rocking CD marks the return to ECM after a decade for cultural polymath Bjørnstad.
NIK BÄRTSCH's RONIN Holon CD 1748672
Eagerly-anticipated second ECM album from Swiss pianist-composer Nik Bärtsch and his committed young ‘Zen-funk’ band Ronin, whose label debut Stoa received rave reviews all around the world in 2006. Holon, again features “ritual groove music” that “throbs with a pulsating dynamism” (Observer Music Monthly) but it’s developed thanks to the band’s growing confidence and also to ECM’s glowing sound-mix.
MISHA ALPERIN Her First Dance CD 1716742
Ukrainian pianist Misha Alperin returns with another gorgeous trio record for ECM, this time with fellow member of the Moscow Art Trio, horn player Arkady Shilkloper and German cellist Anja Lechner of the Rosamunde Quartet. The solos, duos and trios in a programme of many moods feature fascinating, profoundly melodic music with lyricism and dazzling technical skills in abundance.
RECENT RELEASES
JACOB YOUNG Sideways CD 1727080
The ECM debut of Jacob Young, ‘Evening Falls’, catapulted the Norwegian-American guitarist to international attention in 2004: his new album features the same distinguished group. SEE MORE
JON BALKE Book of Velocities CD 1732765
This is another strikingly original release from the instigator of the Magnetic North Orchestra, one of the most important musical thinkers in Northern ‘jazz’ today. SEE MORE
WOLFERT BREDERODE QUARTET Currents CD 1714455
ECM leader debut for young Dutch pianist Wolfert Brederode whose gentle pulsations have played an important role on the highly acclaimed ECM CDs of singer Susanne Abbuehl. SEE MORE
KEITH JARRETT / GARY PEACOCK / JACK DEJOHNETTE My Foolish Heart 2CD 1737326
The ‘Standards’ trio of Jarrett, Peacock and DeJohnette, widely viewed as jazz’s greatest piano trio.
SEE MORE
ENRICO RAVA / STEFANO BOLLANI The Third Man CD 1737322
Eagerly-awaited first duo record on ECM for two of Italy’s greatest musicians, trumpeter Enrico Rava and pianist Stefano Bollani, making intensely melodic, freely lyrical jazz together. SEE MORE
CARLA BLEY The Lost Chords Find Paolo Fresu CD 1737750
Highly attractive new album by Carla Bley introduces the pensive, romantic trumpet of Paolo Fresu to her Lost Chords ensemble alongside British saxophonist Andy Sheppard. . SEE MORE
MANU KATCHÉ Playground CD 1737321
Manu Katché’s eagerly-awaited follow-up to the best-selling Neighbourhood, SEE MORE
DEWEY REDMAN QUARTET The Struggle Continues CD 1742062
One of a pair of special ECM re-releases this month by great American reedmen. Dewey Redman’s one ECM leader date was recorded in 1982 but never before issued on CD. The influential tenor saxophonist moves through a range of styles from gently lilting balladry to free play, from the Texan tenor blues to bebop in a programme of Redman originals and Charlie Parker’s ‘Dewey Square’. It’s released exactly a year after his death.
BENNIE MAUPIN (w Herbie Hancock etc) The Jewel In The Lotus CD 1723520
First release on CD for the legendary 1974 record by saxophonist/bass clarinettist Bennie Maupin – his first date as leader. It features Herbie Hancock in his only ECM appearance and several players from the pianist’s circle at the time, but the music is a sequence of pulsing tone-poems, full of glowing, compound sound-colours and subtle interactions, a jazz-and-Buddhism-inspired floating chamber music that was way ahead of its time.
PAUL GIGER / MARIE-LOUISE DÄHLER Towards Silence (Bach & improvisation)
CD 4766180
For his sixth ECM album, violinist Paul Giger – equally at home as a composer or improviser – includes classical compositions for the first time: music by J S Bach is interspersed between the free playing and original pieces by Giger and fellow Swiss, harpsichordist Marie-Louise Dähler. This modern listening adventure, meditative, playful and thought-provoking, should appeal to fans of Baroque music and jazz listeners alike
MIROSLAV VITOUS Universal Syncopations II CD 1718357
A follow-up to the hugely successful 2003 Universal Syncopations, this new album by Czech bassist Miroslav
Vitous features a stellar line-up with some of the leading modern jazz soloists of the post-‘fusion’ era: Randy Brecker, Bob Malach, Bob Mintzer, Gary Campbell – all making their ECM debuts. It explores a wider musical range than the first CD, with choirs looming out of the mix and orchestral colours swirling around the shifting cast of nine jazz musicians.
PAUL BLEY Solo In Mondsee CD 1709775
One of the most influential pianists in the history of jazz, Paul Bley makes his first solo album in 35 years, a belated ‘sequel’ to the innovative, enduring classic Open, To Love. Recorded in Mondsee, Austria, on a superb Bösendorfer Imperial and released in his 75th birthday year, it’s a resolutely creative and characteristically profound set from a player who has inspired almost all of the pianists on ECM – from Keith Jarrett to Christian Wallumrød.
JOHN ABERCROMBIE QUARTET The Third Quartet CD 1709776
Master guitarist John Abercrombie’s 25th ECM leader date, The Third Quartet is the strongest album yet from a band renowned for its outstanding group interaction. It features superlative playing from violinist Mark Feldman, bassist Marc Johnson and drummer Joey Baron, as well as the endlessly inventive leader, on eight new Abercrombie tunes and two classics of new jazz: Bill Evans’ pretty ‘Epilogue’ and Ornette Coleman’s galloping ‘Round Trip’.
MOTIAN/FRISELL/ LOVANO Time and Time Again CD 1701137
Following their ecstatically-received “comeback” album I Have The Room Above Her in 2005, Paul Motian’s trio with Bill Frisell and Joe Lovano – one of the great groups of modern jazz – returns with another recording that luxuriates in the sensuality of sound. Keenly attuned to each other in the improvisations, the trio play a gravity-defying, floating music that is at all moments free and intensely melodic.
ENRICO RAVA QUINTET The Words and The Days CD 1709773
The Rava Quintet encapsulates much that is best about Italian jazz: one of Europe’s outstanding bands, fronted by one of jazz’s most authoritative trumpeters, a player with a beautiful, burnished tone.
The Words and The Days is Enrico Rava’s eagerly awaited follow-up to 2003’s prize-winning album Easy Living,
hailed as one of the “best jazz albums of the last decade.”
LOUIS SCLAVIS L'imparfait des langues CD 9877897
French clarinettist Louis Sclavis, one of the most highly regarded European jazz players and an exceptionally resourceful bandleader, returns with a fresh and vibrant project – and a new group of younger players bringing a strong influence from rock, pop and ambient music. The result is a bracing album of some of the most hard-driving music in Sclavis’s fine discography.
FRODE HALTLI with Arve Henriksen etc Passing Images CD 9856022
Frode Haltli, one of the best-known accordionists in the contemporary music world, was firstly a folk musician and here he offers a kaleidoscopic view of traditional music - from a very fresh and non-traditional angle - together with a unique cast of highly-gifted performers: innovative jazz trumpeter Arve Henriksen and vocalist extraordinaire Maja Ratjke – both fellow Norwegians – and Scottish/ Irish violist Garth Knox (formerly of the Arditti Quartet).
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