ECM Data is again! Effectively, they by no means actually went away for a few of us — at the least not for me — however now the legendary label has determined to rejoin us right here within the vinyl pool, and the thought couldn’t have come at a greater time.
In case you are not acquainted with the ECM universe however get pleasure from ambient-leaning, improvisationally oriented music that dances in and across the realm of jazz, then you’re in for a deal with. From the ECM website, we study, “The unbiased file label ECM – Version of Up to date Music – was based by producer Manfred Eicher in 1969, and up to now has issued greater than 1,700 albums spanning many idioms. Pioneering recordings of artists corresponding to Keith Jarrett, Jan Garbarek, Chick Corea, Paul Bley, Gary Burton, Egberto Gismonti, Pat Metheny, Jack DeJohnette, and The Artwork Ensemble of Chicago established ECM’s popularity as a label to be reckoned with.”
Again within the day, ECM was a label the place you primarily didn’t must know who the artist even was to be prepared to take an opportunity on shopping for the file. You simply knew the music could be stunning — or at the least haunting — and that it might ship an usually ambient, natural-sounding, and richly introspective temper that sometimes matched the vibe of the duvet artwork.
Once I heard that ECM was once more releasing LPs, I requested their PR crew if I may take a look at among the newest titles for AP. They graciously despatched me a handful of titles by a pair artists I’m acquainted with, some I used to be curious to find out about, and others I’d by no means heard of earlier than. True to kind and within the ECM custom, these recordings are usually exemplary, recorded in effective studios throughout Europe and in New York.
Listed here are the important thing vinyl stats, a few of which I’ve confirmed instantly with the label reps. Although all these recordings have been actually made digitally, and doubtless in hi-res, all of the pressings are excellent, coming in darkish, thick, and quiet, sometimes 180g vinyl (seemingly) manufactured at File Trade in Germany. All 5 of the albums being reviewed listed below are well-centered — one thing that’s significantly important for music corresponding to this, which frequently options lengthy, drawn-out instrumental tones that may in any other case waver out and in of tune. The SRPs are sometimes $25.99 for 1LP ECM editions, and $39.99 for his or her 2LP editions.
Digital issues apart, I’ve ranked most of those recordings at 9 as they typically do sound very good, heat, and alluring. However I’ve left some room open for a ten ranking down the pike, as I do marvel how this music may sound had it been made within the analog area as lots of the early ECM titles have been. Perhaps sometime, we’ll see a pleasant reissue collection of a few of these seminal early ECM releases — and we’ll gladly evaluate them too, if/when that point comes.
The 5 new albums I discover right here hold in some ways to that traditional ECM aesthetic, maybe to a fault. Whereas they’re all very totally different, these albums may simply be put right into a mixtape or playlist, in case you weren’t that intimate with the respective artists. There’s an ECM sound, to make sure — however if you’re listening to those LPs extra carefully, the distinctive qualities of every artist get additional revealed.
With all that in thoughts, the next are a collection of mini-reviews of every of those 5 albums — or Brief Cuts, as we’ve begun to name these type of smaller evaluations beneath our broader Assessment Explosion banner — and so they additionally embody any related background from ECM’s official press supplies if warranted.
AVISHAI COHEN
NAKED TRUTH
MUSIC: 8
SOUND: 9
That is the primary time I’ve listened to Israeli trumpet participant Avishai Cohen. From the official ECM press supplies, we study concerning the making of this 1LP: “Cohen had only one rehearsal and one ‘mini-concert’ with [pianist] Yonathan Avishai and [double bassist] Barak Mori previous to the session at Studios La Buissonne. The dialogue about what to play and what to not play advanced out of that.” Accordingly, Bare Reality is one thing of a refined suite of shift-shaping actions.
The perfect complement I can supply right here is that the music did what all good recordings ought to do — it made me curious to listen to extra music by this artist. At instances, I heard echoes of Jon Hassell, and at different moments, I felt ghosts of Sort of Blue-era Miles Davis dancing across the room. A beautiful recording, certainly. Bare Reality was laid down at Studios La Buissonne in Pernes-les-Fontaines, France in September 2021. The album was engineered by Gerad De Haro, and mastered by Nicholas Baillard.
MARK TURNER
RETURN FROM THE STARS
MUSIC: 9
SOUND: 9
That is one in every of my favorites of the primary batch of recent ECM releases I’ve heard to this point, maybe as a result of it swings essentially the most and has extra of a traditional early/mid-’60s Miles Davis kind of vibe. (In that sense, it counters most from my earlier imperfect concept that ECM artists usually sound alike!) Apparently named after a Stanislav Lem sci-fi novel, Return From the Stars is a 2LP set that delivers slowly evolving preparations of sound, inserting Turner’s tenor sax and Jason Palmer’s trumpet centerstage.
There’s a effective sense of floating freedom right here, little question partly as a result of buoyant assist of the rhythm part of double bassist Joe Martin and drummer Jonathan Pinson. Return From the Stars is Turner’s first quartet album since 2014’s Lathe of Heaven, and I’ll undoubtedly be in search of extra music by this nice artist. Recorded at Sear Sound Studio, New York and engineered by Chris Allan, combined at Studios La Buissonne in Pernes-les-Fontaines, France in September 2021 by Manfred Eicher and Gerad De Haro, and mastered by Nicholas Baillard.
TORD GUSTAVSEN TRIO
OPENING
MUSIC: 8
SOUND: 9
As with many of those artists, I’d not heard of pianist Tord Gustavsen earlier than this evaluate — and naturally which means completely nothing, as a result of clearly he’s a recognized and beloved expertise to many followers world wide. Coincidentally, he performed in San Francisco shortly after I acquired this album for evaluate, however I couldn’t make it out to the present, sadly. Right here, on the 1LP Opening, the Tord Gustavsen Trio discover considerably minimalist exploratory jazz-leaning music, typically recalling flavors like Brad Mehldau’s extra introspective moments, and different instances bringing quasi-new age sounds to thoughts.
I just like the considerably extra upfront manufacturing type right here, with good stereo separation on the drums (i.e., a lot of left-right cymbal and tom-tom detailing), with bass dead-center simply behind the piano. Clearly, there’s something right here that’s pulling me again in (once more, signal!), so I actually must spend extra time with Gustavsen’s moody, somber, and in the end stunning music, which might be the very best praise I can supply right here. Recorded at Auditorio Stelio Molo RSI, Lugano, Italy in October 2021, and engineered by Stefano Amerio.
JOHN SCOFIELD
JOHN SCOFIELD
MUSIC: 8
SOUND: 9
It’s not stunning one in every of my favorites of this ECM batch is by guitarist extraordinaire John Scofield — and this self-titled 1LP is de facto fairly fascinating, because it sounds not like a lot of the recordings I’ve heard of his. In actual fact, given that he’s working with a “looper” gadget (which permits for real-time sampling of himself to play together with), the music jogs my memory at instances of one other modern-day guitar genius, Invoice Frisell (by means of Adrian Legg at instances).
Right here, Scofield tackles some requirements throughout totally different genres of music corresponding to “My Outdated Flame,” Buddy Holly’s “Not Fade Away,” Hank Williams’ “You Win Once more,” and the normal “Danny Boy,” however he additionally contains some good originals as nicely. John Scofield is a really satisfying pay attention with no actual harsh edges, even when he begins to get a bit vibrant in his solos. A pleasant fashionable spin that sounds effective late at night time or early within the morning. Recorded at High Story Studio, Katonah, New York, engineered by Tyler McDiarmid, and mastered by Christopher Stickel.
ENRICO RAVA / FRED HERSCH
THE SONG IS YOU
MUSIC: 8
SOUND: 9
Once I acquired this album from ECM for evaluate, Enrico Rava’s identify appeared acquainted. Because it seems, I do have one album by this Trieste, Italy-based trumpeter that I picked up out of curiosity a number of years in the past (1976’s The Plot, on ECM) at a used file store. Rava can be on an enchanting Carla Bley-related mission I purchased simply final 12 months, 1971’s Escalator Over the Hill, on JCOA. In brief, Rava has been affiliated with ECM for some 50 years, and this new 1LP, The Track Is You, is his collaboration with Cincinnati-based pianist Fred Hersch, somebody who’s new to the ECM household.
In response to official press supplies, each artists “share a deep affection for the custom and a profound sense for melodic invention.” An uncommon pairing of flugelhorn and piano, this recording was captured in an acoustically beautiful studio. And although the pair cowl many requirements right here — Jerome Kern’s “The Track Is You,” Thelonious Monk’s “Misterioso” and “‘Spherical Midnight,” Antônio Carlos Jobim’s “Retrato em Branco e Preto,” and George Bassman’s “I’m Getting Sentimental Over You” — the mix is novel, so the music sounds curiously contemporary. Rava and Hersch additionally play some originals. Recorded at Auditorio Stelio Molo RSI, Lugano, Italy in November 2021, and engineered by Stefano Amerio.
(Mark Smotroff is an avid vinyl collector who has additionally labored in advertising and marketing communications for many years. He has reviewed music for AudiophileReview.com, amongst others, and you’ll see extra of his spectacular C.V. at LinkedIn.)
