In his second ECM appearance (following a critically-acclaimed duo recording with Markus Stockhausen) pianist Florian Weber leads a strong cast through a programme of his compositions and sketches. Whether paying tribute to mentor Lee Konitz on “Honestlee”, impressionistically conveying the glittering “Melody of a Waterfall” ...
Genre: Jazz
Subgenre: Contemporary Jazz
German cellist Anja Lechner and Argentinean guitarist Pablo Márquez met in 2003 and have since explored the most diverse repertoire and modes of expression in their concerts. For their first duo album, a conceptual context is provided by the strong tradition of songs with guitar accompaniment prevalent in ...
Composer: Franz Schubert 1797-1828
Genre: Classical
Subgenre: Chamber Music
From its inception, John Potter’s Dowland Project has drawn upon different musical traditions including those of ‘early music’ and improvisation. These “Night Sessions” emphasize the Project’s improvisational flexibility and resourcefulness, as the musicians create new music in the moment, sometimes with medieval poetry as inspirational reference ...
Genre: Classical
Subgenre: Chamber Music
La Fenice (Live At Teatro La Fenice, Venice / 2006)
Recorded in Venice, in 2006, ‘La Fenice’ finds Keith Jarrett unleashing a torrent of imagination, creating a masterpiece in a moment. While there’s no doubt that Keith Jarrett is a supremely versatile musician at home in myriad musical contexts, ...
Composer: Keith Jarrett
Genre: Instrumental
Subgenre: Piano
The Italian double bassist and composer Stefano Scodanibbio (1956-2012) created extraordinary music for his instrument. Alisei (Trade Winds) features his compositions for solo bass, for two basses, and for bass ensemble. ...
Composer: Stefano Scodanibbio (1956-2012)
Genre: Classical
Subgenre: Chamber Music
J.S. Bach: Six Suites for Viola Solo
The poetry and radiance of Bachs cello suites (BWV 1007-1012) are transfigured in these remarkable interpretations by Kim Kashkashian on viola, offering a different kind of somberness, a different kind of dazzlement as annotator Paul Griffiths observes. One of the most compelling performers of ...
Composer: Johann Sebastian Bach (1685–1750)
Genre: Classical
Subgenre: Chamber Music
Where The River Goes carries the story forward from Wolfgang Muthspiel’s highly-acclaimed Rising Grace recording of 2016, reuniting the Austrian guitarist with Brad Mehldau, Ambrose Akinmusire and Larry Grenadier, heavy talents all, and bringing in the great Eric Harland on drums. ...
Genre: Jazz
Subgenre: Contemporary Jazz
Bay Of Rainbows (Live At The Jazz Standard, New York / 2017)
“There is no hurry to this music, but there is great depth,” observed London Jazz News about Danish guitarist Jakob Bro’s trio with two kindred-spirit Americans: bassist Thomas Morgan and drummer Joey Baron. This poetically attuned group follows its ECM studio album of 2016, Streams – which The New York Times ...
Genre: Jazz
Subgenre: Contemporary Jazz
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
