ECM 3CD sets

[king ubu]

There's been some discussion of the Touchstone series over here, but I've not seen anyone mentioning these nicely prized 3CD boxes recently out from ECM:

Steve Kuhn

Life's Backward Glances - Solo And Quartet

Steve Kuhn piano

Sheila Jordan voice

Steve Slagle soprano and alto saxophones, flute

Harvie Swartz double-bass

Michael Smith drums

Bob Moses drums

This collection brings together three much sought-after recordings by Steve Kuhn: the solo piano album “Ecstasy” (recorded 1974), and two quartet albums. “Motility” (1977) features the band of the same name with saxophonist Steve Slagle in the front line, while “Playground” (1979) is the album that introduced the Steve Kuhn-Sheila Jordan Quartet. Singer Jordan is of course one of the great jazz vocalists, and this was an inspired teaming. Kuhn himself is a superlative pianist of vast gifts; each of these recordings illuminates another aspect of his work. Of these three discs only “Ecstasy” was previously available on compact disc, and then only in Japan. “Motility” and “Playground” here receive their first CD releases.

Motility (CD 1)

The Rain Forest

Oceans In The Sky

Catherine

Bittersweet Passages

Deep Tango

Motility / The Child Is Gone

A Danse For One

Places I've Never Been

Playground (CD 2)

Tomorrow's Son

Gentle Thoughts

Poem For No. 15

The Zoo

Deep Tango

Life's Backward Glance

Ecstasy (CD 3)

Silver

Prelude in G

Ulla

Thoughts of a Gentleman - The Saga of Harrison Crabfeathers

Life's Backward Glance

Recorded 1977 (CD 1), 1979 (CD 2), 1974 (CD 3)

ECM 2090_92

Don Cherry

Nana Vasconcelos

Collin Walcott

The Codona Triology

Pure wizardry. The art of the improvisers beyond all borders. Preaching equality for all the idioms, anticipating the gathering wave of “world music”, drawing on traditions from all the continents, Codona was like no other band. Its sound: simultaneously poetic and powerfully evocative and stamped, in every second, with character. Summoned into being by Collin Walcott in 1978, the trio provided an utterly original context for Don Cherry’s starkly melodic trumpet and for the multi-instrumentalism of all three players. This 3-CD box incorporates the albums “Codona” (recorded 1978), “Codona 2” (1980) and “Codona 3” (1982).

Don Cherry trumpet, doussn’gouni, flutes, organ, melodica, voice

Nana Vasconcelos berimbau, cuica, talking drum, percussion, voice

Collin Walcott sitar, tabla, hammered dulcimer, sanza, timpani, voice

Codona (CD 1)

Like That Of Sky

Codona

Colemanwonder:

Race Face

Sortie

Sir Duke

Mumakata

New Light

Codona 2 (CD 2)

Que Faser

Godumaduma

Malinye

Drip-Dry

Walking on Eggs

Again and Again, Again

Codona 3 (CD 3)

Goshakabuchi

Hey Da Ba Doom

Travel By Night

Lullaby

Trayra Boia

Clicky Clacky

Inner Organs

Recorded 1978, 1980, 1982

ECM 2033_35

“From the very beginning Jarrett emphasized two imperatives: they must take the standards seriously as great if unrecognized art on a small scale, and they had to do so from an up-to-date and radically improvisational vantage point. Once the musicians entered the studio the effect was astonishing. The old tunes unleashed a rush of emotions, a delight in streams of collective communication, without preconditions, following not only the skeletal chord changes but the melodic lines of force in the originals.”

Peter Rüedi, in the liner notes

This reissue of the first days of Keith Jarrett’s “Standards” project - with Gary Peacock and Jack DeJohnette brings together the albums “Standards Vol. 1”, “Standards Vol. 2” and “Changes”, recordings made in a sustained burst of creativity in 1983. Now re-released as a boxed set to celebrate 25 years of the Jarrett/Peacock/DeJohnette trio, “Setting Standards” also sets the stage for a new series of ECM reissues (which will be continued with further releases in 2008).

In January 1983, Keith Jarrett, Gary Peacock and Jack DeJohnette came together with producer Manfred Eicher for an extraordinary recording session at New York’s Power Station. The idea – almost revolutionary in an era when the idea of playing ‘original material’ was all-important - was a modest one: to simply make an album of jazz standards.

Gary Peacock: “We went in to do just one album but we came out with enough material for three albums. It was incredible. The only other pianist who had impacted on me that forcefully playing standards was Bill Evans when I worked with him. Then when we started playing standards on this date.... Whew! Talk about depth! It opens up a whole other level of experience.” In his book Keith Jarrett, The Man and his Music, Ian Carr writes that “The whole session seems pervaded with unbridled joy, and each piece seems to get its quintessential performance. Jarrett overflows with new musical thoughts, Peacock plays the roots and also creates dynamic counter-lines, while DeJohnette seems to create a new rhythmic and textural vocabulary for playing standards.”

Having wrapped up two volumes of standards, the trio then moved into improvisational areas. The result: the album “Changes”. Three top flight albums recorded – and mixed – in two and a half days. Not only that, the musicians had mapped out the area – from the Great American Songbook to free play – that they would continue to explore for the next quarter-century, making them perhaps the most widely-admired jazz group in the world today, and easily the most popular contemporary piano trio.

These recordings, then, set standards at many levels. And the first volumes of “Standards” won album of the year awards around the globe.

This 3-CD set includes liner text by noted Swiss critic Peter Rüedi (in English and German), and previously unpublished photos from the recording session by Deborah Feingold.

“Setting Standards” is the first release in a reissue series which revisits classic and historically-significant ECM albums. Each issue contains liner notes and archive photos. Further releases are in preparation for 2008.

Keith Jarrett

Gary Peacock

Jack DeJohnette

Setting Standards - New York Sessions

Keith Jarrett piano

Gary Peacock double-bass

Jack DeJohnette drums

Standards, Vol. 1 (CD 1)

Meaning Of The Blues

All The Things You Are

It Never Entered My Mind

The Masquerade Is Over

God Bless The Child

Standards, Vol. 2 (CD 2)

So Tender

Moon And Sand

In Love In Vain

Never Let Me Go

If I Should Lose You

I Fall In Love Too Easily

Changes (CD 3)

Flying, Part 1

Flying, Part 2

Prism

Recorded January 1983

ECM 2030_32

I think I might eventually get all three... the only disc included in these I already own is Jarrett's Standards, Vol. 1.

How are those Kuhn albums? And what about Codona?

[user0815]

great cover art!

[jazzbo]

The Kuhn looks good! The Kodona. . .not my cup of tea. I have all the Jarrett; Changeless is one of the best yet.

[porcy62]

All reccommended, in my booklist.

[GregK]

I notice the Kuhn and the Wolcott have credits for "voice"-just how much "voice" is on these? (and yes, I know, Jarrett should be credited for voice too!)

[king ubu]

The Kuhn has one album with the great Sheila Jordan - a definitive plus in my book!

As for Codona... I've heard live recordings and I guess if you know some of Cherry's world projects, you should know what the chanting is like (bamboo flutes and stuff will the there, too, plenty of it), but if you're unfamiliar, I'd rather check out some samples or whatever way there is to find out if you're interested in the music or not.