Two guitars gently envelop the uniquely evocative bandoneon of Dino Saluzzi on El Viejo Caminante, The Old Wanderer. Here, the Argentinean father and son team of Dino and José Maria Saluzzi are joined by Norway’s Jacob Young, in an album of musical depth and great charm. “It fills me with joy”, says Dino Saluzzi, ...
Genre: Jazz
Subgenre: Contemporary Jazz
Masterful trio interplay reliant on deeply honed three-way communication and a refined sense of understatement make Fred Hersch’s third recording for ECM an essential entry into the piano trio canon. Hersch tackles a handful of 20th century compositions – spanning from standards to less frequented jazz tunes – as well as three originals, ...
Genre: Jazz
Subgenre: Contemporary Jazz
New Vienna is the fourth concert release from Keith Jarrett's triumphant final solo tour of Europe. The album follows Munich 2016, Budapest Concert and Bordeaux Concert. Why the title New Vienna? Those more familiar with Jarrett's music will know that his discography already includes a legendary Vienna Concert (recorded at the Vienna State Opera), ...
Genre: Jazz
Subgenre: Contemporary Jazz
Aeris is the ninth ECM New Series album to feature the vibrant and highly expressive music of Erkki-Sven Tuur. Olari Elts, a long-time champion of Tuuris compositions, conducts the Estonian National Symphony Orchestra in compelling, intensely-focused performances of Phantasma, ...
Composer: Erkki-Sven Tuur
Genre: Classical
Subgenre: Orchestral
Zuhour (flowers in Arabic) is an album of improvised pieces by the duo of guitarists Ayman Fanous and Joe Morris. While firmly rooted in the free jazz idiom, the pieces veer into unexpected territory, including flamenco and musique concrète. Both guitarists employ a wide array of ...
Genre: Guitar
Subgenre: Classical Guitar
Hem marks the debut solo album from renowned Norwegian pianist and composer Øystein Skar. Best known for his contributions to the award-winning band Highasakite, Skar reveals a new facet of his artistic expression with this deeply personal release. Combining his classical piano foundation and jazz studies under ECM pianist Misha Alperin, ...
Composer: Øystein Skar
Genre: Classical
Subgenre: Classical Crossover
The Scandinavian project Arcanum brings together four artists all well-known to followers of music at ECM: Arve Henriksen, Trygve Seim, Anders Jormin and Markku Ounaskari. They’ve played together in many permutations over the years, but this is their first album as a quartet. Already hailed as a “Nordic supergroup” in some quarters, ...
Genre: Jazz
Subgenre: Contemporary Jazz
Joe Lovano and his Polish conspirators from the Marcin Wasilewski trio are in an especially adventurous spirit on their second joint endeavour for ECM. Building on the lyrical strengths that inhabited the group’s previous recording (Arctic Riff, 2020), on Homage the quartet moreover investigates the type of free-flowing interplay ...
Genre: Jazz
Subgenre: Contemporary Jazz
Savina Yannatou’s fifth ECM album revolves around the theme of water in its many manifestations. Water as a blessing and a curse. A life-sustaining source and a mortal threat in the elemental power of the storm. Shakespeare’s The Tempest with the spirit Ariel’s song, “Full Fathom Five”, provided an inspirational starting point for Greek vocalist Yannatou ...
Genre: Jazz
Subgenre: Crossover Jazz
Reuniting with Edition Records after three albums that spanned Edition, ECM, and We Jazz, this album was recorded over a two-day residency at Bird’s Eye in Basel. It’s an ambitious retrospective and forward-looking statement, covering pieces from each record while presenting new material that reflects how Enemy’s sound has evolved—balancing ...
Genre: Jazz
Subgenre: Contemporary Jazz
Following Falling Grace, in which he explored standards in trio with drummer Jeff Ballard that racked up over 4 million streams, guitarist Romain Pilon opens up new musical horizons with Open Roads, an album that showcases his talents as a composer. Combining voices and textures with a subtle imagination, featuring one of those stellar line-ups that Romain ...
Genre: Jazz
Subgenre: Contemporary Jazz
Adam Wendt, one of the most important Polish jazz saxophonists and composers, has released a new album. And not just any new one! Together with him, the project was co-authored by some truly outstanding musicians: pianist Dominik Wania, who has already scored at ECM with a solo album, double bassist Mariusz Bogdanowicz and drummer Sebastian Frankiewicz. ...
Genre: Jazz
Subgenre: Contemporary Jazz
Saxophonist Branford Marsalis, one of the foremost jazz artists of our time and a pacesetting creative force in the music for more than four decades, is set to make his Blue Note Records debut with the March 28 release of Belonging, a full album interpretation of Keith Jarrett’s 1974 ECM album of the same name which ...
Genre: Jazz
Subgenre: Contemporary Jazz
Eight years after Blue Maqams, Anouar Brahem returns with a new project, and a programme of powerfully-moving pieces for oud, cello, piano and bass. Asked about the nature of his artistic journey, Brahem has drawn analogies with the growth of a tree, its branches spreading out above ground, while roots dig ever deeper. Over time and the course of a remarkable discography
Genre: Jazz
Subgenre: Contemporary Jazz
Defiant Life, Vijay Iyer and Wadada Leo Smith’s second duo recording for ECM after 2016’s A Cosmic Rhythm With Each Stroke, is a profound meditation on the human condition, reflecting both the hardships and acts of resilience it entails. But at the same time, it also proves a testament to the duo’s unique artistic relationship and the boundless forms of musical expression it ...
Genre: Jazz
Subgenre: Contemporary Jazz
German Afghan, internationally celebrated singer and composer Simin Tander, known for her expressive and emotionally evocative voice, received the Annual German Record Critics‘ Award in 2016 for her ECM album with pianist Tord Gustavsen. Recently nominated for the German Jazz Prize ...
Genre: World Music
Subgenre: Worldbeat
Nicolas Masson’s acquaintance with his fellow quartet travelers Colin Vallon, Patrice Moret and Lionel Friedli goes back roughly two decades – in this time the players have developed an intimate musical bond, expressed purely and beautifully on Renaissance, the group’s second recording for ECM after 2018’s Travelers. Comprised exclusively of ...
Genre: Jazz
Subgenre: Contemporary Jazz
Alexander Knaifel: Chapter Eight
Chapter Eight: Canticum Canticorum is among the most remarkable compositions of Alexander Knaifel. Written in 1992 and 1993 and based upon the eighth chapter of the Old Testament Song of Songs, the Song of Solomon, it is conceived as a “community prayer”. In his imagination, while writing it, Knaifel said he “heard it in the most reverberant church ...
Composer: Alexander Knaifel (1943-2024)
Genre: Classical
Subgenre: Choral
Kristjan Randalu reimagines Schubert's Winterreise with a unique blend of classical and jazz influences. Following his re-composition of Schumann's Dichterliebe, Randalu brings a fresh approach to Schubert's famous song cycle, infusing it with jazz elements while maintaining a classical foundation. ...
Composer: Franz Schubert (1797-1828)
Genre: Classical
Subgenre: Chamber Music
Liaisons II: All Things Bright and Beautiful – Re-Imagining Sondheim from the Piano
Pianist extraordinaire Anthony De Mare’s landmark commissioning project, Liaisons: Re-Imagining Sondheim from the Piano, reaches Volume II with a diverse range of 14 tracks by a roll call of contemporary composers from the worlds of classical, jazz, film, indie, pop and musical theatre, including Jon Batiste, Stephen Hough, ...
Composer: Timothy Andres (1985), Mark Bennett (1972), Stephen Hough (1961), Jon Batiste (1986), Ted Hearne (1982), Conrad Tao (1994), Christopher Cerrone (1984), Marc Schubring (1968), Meredith Monk (1943), Paola Prestini (1975), Jeff Beal (1963), Max Richter (1966), Stephen Sondheim (1930–2021)
Genre: Classical
Subgenre: Instrumental
