Cool! If, when life returns to more normality, you can get to see Elina live, it is something very special.
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Email received today fyi:
Dear friends of ECM,
Today we release two new albums on ECM and ECM New Series:
‘Lost Ships’ by Elina Duni presents the singer in a new quartet with Rob Luft on guitar, Matthieu Michel on flugelhorn and Fred Thomas on drums.
Estonian composer Erkki-Sven Tüür presents his chamber music compositions in a premier recording with the German-based Signum Quartett, Harry Traksmann on violin, Leho Karin on violoncello and
Marrit Gerretz-Traksmann on piano.
To celebrate the release of these two albums, we would like to offer you a selection of Elina Duni and Erkki-Sven Tüür albums, as well as ECM vocal recordings at a reduced price in this week’s special offer.
Enjoy.
ECM Records
Hi Lontano
Are you able to say what musical reproduction equipment ECM uses to review and evaluate tracks?
Is it whatever monitors and amps are used in each recording studio that is used?
Can you say what is used at the ECM head offices listening rooms, or is that a trade secret?
Thanks
Jim
Jim, I think fair to say that the serious listening will be done in the studio. ECM record almost all albums in 2/3 days including mixing the final product in the studio, then Manfred moves onto the next project.
There is no big elaborate listening room at ECM HQ. When I was there I listened to the upcoming Yonathan Avishai album on a stacked entry/mid range separates system that was piled on top of the filing cabinet in one of the offices. Manfred has a similar set up in his office - speakers and some separates on the filing cabinets in front of his desk. You can actually see the set up in the ECM Film Sounds and Silence which is well worth watching at 10 minutes, 40 seconds…
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It must be useful for a producer to sense check how recordings sound on average systems.
I would imagine that Manfred would love to hear his music through a really well set up Naim system!
Mrs. JimDog and I enjoyed the ECM Film Sounds and Silence - we rented it from Apple Films a few months ago.
Rainbow Studio ECM in Oslo. I see BW speakers and Classé electronics
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Yup - they could do a lot better than that!
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Bought from Tidal that album on Flac. Very well recorded, nice and creative music, and in ECM like spirit.
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Out Feb 12.
And the new Jakob Bro with Arve Henriksen and Jorge Rossy - Uma Elmo - seems to be scheduled for March 17. That’s one I cannot wait for…
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Now scheduled for Feb 12 release - the new one from Jakob Bro with Arve Henriksen and Jorge Rossy. This one I have very high expectations of.
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Reissue of the legendary Sun Bear Concerts coming to vinyl Feb 19.
More than 40 years after its original release, this limited and numbered facsimile edition of Keith Jarrett’s legendary 10-LP box set “Sun Bear Concerts” is recreated from original analog sources.
Sun Bear Concerts - documenting five complete solo performances by Keith Jarrett in Japan - counts as a milestone achievement in the history of jazz recording. As Down Beat wrote, on the occasion of the original release, Jarrett’s improvisations are “the inventions of a giant, overpoweringly intimate in the way they can draw a listener in and hold him captive. Jarrett has once more stepped into the cave of his creative consciousness and brought to light music of startling power, majesty and warmth.”
Rich in incident and detail, the music in this beautifully produced, illustrated and presented ten-LP set, first issued in 1978 revealed Jarrett as a player of limitless creativity, unique in his ability to find new forms in the moment, night after night. “These marathons showed Jarrett to be one of the greatest improvisers in jazz,” Ian Carr wrote in his biography of the pianist, “with an apparently inexhaustible flow of rhythmic and melodic ideas, one of the most brilliant pianistic techniques of all, and the ability to project complex and profound feeling.” The present edition is a facsimile of the original LP set, described by the late Haus der Kunst curator Okwui Enwezor as “part of ECM’s declaration of independence from standard packaging of jazz records. Setting itself apart in this way, ECM treated its recordings as works of art by musicians of the highest artistic and conceptual order.”
A work of art by any standards, Sun Bear Concerts brings together solo concerts in November 1976 in Kyoto, Osaka, Nagoya, Tokyo and Sapporo, in recordings made by Japanese engineer Okihiro Sugano and producer Manfred Eicher, who travelled through Japan with Keith Jarrett. The set’s book-form packaging, with design by Barbara Wojirsch, includes photographs by Klaus Knaup, Tadayuki Naitoh and Akira Aimi.
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This is an absolute highlight. For people who like Köln, they will love this…
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The Joe Lovano is only £6.49 in high res with Qobuz Sublime, downloadable tomorrow.
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Bargain. It’s a superb album too - the sound quality is amazing and the music sublime.
Adrian,
It has been a very long time since I purchased any ECM. The last one was probably the Tarkovsky Quartet. Any recommendation of new artists?
Haim
Haim, a few you might like. Try Oded Tzur Here be Dragons - New York based Israeli Sax player - beautiful music. Two out today from Shai Maestro and Joe Lovano are both delightful. Louis Sclavis Characters on a Wall is superb. All the Jakob Bro’s are great - Bay of Rainbows and Returnings particularly. Plenty of others - you might also like Jean-Louis Matinier/Kevin Sedikki. Not forgetting the new Anja/Francois album Lontano.
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I find Lontano difficult. The Matinier/Sedikki is excellent though. One real recent favourite is the Shinya Fukumori Trio’s For 2 Akis. Some of the albums are getting a bit noodly and academic and I wonder if the label is running out of steam sometimes.
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ECM’s magic revolves around various aspects of Manfred’s worldview, e.g.:
- recruit and support and creatively encourage a stable of extremely talented musicians.
- unique recording processes of mainly acoustic and instrumental performances to give a raw, real, icy, crystalline house sound (and stellar sound quality).
But, yes, many of the labels most brilliant and vibrant performers are now dead, retired or about to retire - Bley, Motian, Peacock, Jarrett, DeJohnette, Christensen, et al.
The label does need an injection of new energy, while maintaining what is unique and brilliant about it.
Maybe Manfred should hire a disruptive manager to help him recruit new musicians and start some new seams of musical creation running at ECM?
This is already happening in part, but could be accelerated.
Ambrose Akinmusire, Szun Waves, Robocobra Quartet, GoGo Penguin and others spring to mind as examples of new approaches to jazz that could thrive within ECM’s orbit.
Adrian and HH, thank you.
There are so many ECM records which stand alone pretty well but their novelty is lost on me since I already own many other recordings of these particular artists. I am taking a break from saxophones so it will probably be the Matinier/ Sedikki or a Jakob Bro album.
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