Widmann: Arche (Live at Elbphilharmonie, Hamburg / 2017)
Commissioned to write new music to inaugurate the Elbphilharmonie concert hall in Hamburg, composer Jörg Widmann drew inspiration from the shape of the building itself: “From the outside it resembles a ship. To me, the interior looked like the hold of a ship, an ark…Re-emerging into the daylight, the ark idea would not leave me alone. ...
Composer: Jörg Widmann (1973)
Genre: Classical
Subgenre: Vocal
The first ECM leader date for Shai Maestro (following his label debut with Theo Bleckmann on Elegy) features the gifted pianist fronting his superlative trio with fellow Israeli Ofri Nehemya on drums and Peruvian bassist Jorge Roeder, and also playing alone. ...
Genre: Jazz
Subgenre: Contemporary Jazz
For its third ECM release, the Danish String Quartet inaugurates a series of albums with the overarching title of Prism, in which the group will present one of Beethoven's late string quartets in the context of a related fugue by J.S. Bach as well as a linked masterwork from the quartet literature. ...
Genre: Classical
Subgenre: Chamber Music
Last Night The Moon Came Dropping Its Clothes In The Street
25 years after his highly influential “Power Spot” album, Jon Hassell returns to ECM with his collective Maarifa Street and some spacious Fourth World dub-montage music, his uniquely vocal trumpet sailing forth into mysterious soundscapes. ...
Genre: Jazz
Subgenre: Contemporary Jazz
Barre Phillips was the first musician to record an album of solo double bass, back in 1968, and he has always been an absolute master of the solo idiom. In March 2017, Barre recorded what he says will be his last solo album, the final chapter of his "Journal Violone": it is a beautiful and moving musical statement. ...
Genre: Jazz
Subgenre: Contemporary Jazz
The initial musical connection between saxophonist Mark Turner and pianist Ethan Iverson was made in 1990s jam sessions in New York City, with both going on to individual success Iverson in hit trio The Bad Plus and Turner as a solo leader and in such groups as the trio Fly (recording in both capacities for ECM). ..
Genre: Jazz
Subgenre: Contemporary Jazz
Call Me When You Get There (Remastered)
I’ve said it before, but Barre Phillips is one of ECM’s brightest stars, though one would never know it by the solemnity of his genius. Glowing with a pale fire that can be drawn only in cosmic pigments, his sound-world on Call me when you get there throbs as if ...
Genre: Jazz
Subgenre: Free Jazz
With its overt lyricism, strong themes and a sense of perpetual melodic invention, Norwegian saxophonist Trygve Seim’s new album quickly identifies itself as a classic-in-the-making. Themes of dedication run through Seim’s Helsinki Songs album, a set of tunes ...
Genre: Jazz
Subgenre: Contemporary Jazz
“Negotiating dynamic shifts of emphasis,” The Independent has noted,”Dénes Várjon displays that most valuable of gifts: the ability to play in a way which makes you listen anew to the familiar.” This capacity is to the fore in the Hungarian pianist’s sensitive ...
Composer: Béla Bartók (1881–1945), Robert Schumann (1810-1856), Maurice Ravel (1875-1937)
Genre: Instrumental
Subgenre: Piano
The Near East Quartet has been a force in Korean music since 2010, juxtaposing elements of contemporary jazz and traditional Korean music with pure sound exploration to create new forms. Saxophonist/clarinettist Sungjae Son and guitarist Suwuk Chung have been members ...
Genre: Jazz
Subgenre: Contemporary Jazz
For the album 'The Other Side', Norwegian Tord Gustavsen returns decisively to the piano trio, with faithful drummer Jarle Vespestad, and introducing his excellent new bassist Sigurd Hole. "This is the chill-out as a state of grace, and it can go as deep as you like. ...
Genre: Jazz
Subgenre:
With Nothern Song, Steve Tibbetts made his ECM debut and introduced listeners to what remains one of the label’s most enchanting, if slowly unfolding, maps. The cover seems to tell us everything: silhouettes of islands superimposed on the journey that takes us to them, ...
Genre: Jazz
Subgenre: Contemporary Jazz
Yr is yet another fascinating peek into the Steve Tibbetts sound-verse. The feeling of open plains that so characterized his previous efforts remains, only now the production is more immediate, such that the 12-string intimations unlocking the doors of “Ur” ...
Genre: Jazz
Subgenre: Contemporary Jazz
“I am partial to silence, breaks, decay, full stops in music. I could have delineated separate sections in some compositions at a break, but I like the idea of freezing silence or gaps into the fabric of the music. It was tempting to have the entire album appear as one track, one unbroken piece.” ...
Genre: Jazz
Subgenre: Contemporary Jazz
With this release, Steve Tibbetts turned a new leaf in his cartographic imagination. The album’s title betrays its creator’s humility, acknowledging the incompleteness of any landscape, which is never more than a cultural possibility. ...
Genre: Jazz
Subgenre: Contemporary Jazz
Guitarist Steve Tibbetts exploded our view when ECM introduced the world to the adroit textures of Northern Song. He did so again with “Test,” the doorway onto the enlightening path that winds through Safe Journey. Don’t let its initial stirrings fool ...
Genre: Jazz
Subgenre: Contemporary Jazz
Marc Sinan’s third ECM release is an evocative duo album with Oğuz Büyükberber which subtly covers a lot of ground. The guitarist and the clarinettist have worked together in many contexts since first meeting in Istanbul a decade ago, and Büyükberber previously appeared on ...
Genre: Jazz
Subgenre: Mainstream Jazz
One-of-a-kind guitarist and record-maker Steve Tibbetts has an association with ECM dating back to 1981, with his body of work reflecting that of an artist who follows his own winding, questing path. The BBC has described his music as “an atmospheric brew… brilliant, individual.” ...
Genre: Jazz
Subgenre: Contemporary Jazz
