Forthcoming ECM releases

[GA Russell]

I like Manu Katche. The name Ketil Bjornstad sure rings a bell. I think he was on an ECM that came out in 2009.

He was on a recent live album with Terje Rypdal, called Life in Leipzig I believe. Very nice album. They also did a couple of ECM albums in the 90's together, The Sea and The Sea II.

Thanks Aggie. I have Life in Leipzig. I'll put it out over the weekend and give it another listen.

[David Ayers]

Couple more I see upcoming:

Dino Saluzzi, El Encuentro

Marilyn Crispell and David Rothenburgh, One Dark Night I Left My Silent House

Steve Tibbetts, Natural Causes

Like the title of Iain Ballamy's 'Quiet Inlet', the title of Marilyn Crispell's record seems to promise the usual late-night listening fare. It is a pity that ECM don't explore more aspects of their artists' range of expression. Why does almost everything this label releases have to be made so 'safe'?

[JETman]

Couple more I see upcoming:

Dino Saluzzi, El Encuentro

Marilyn Crispell and David Rothenburgh, One Dark Night I Left My Silent House

Steve Tibbetts, Natural Causes

Like the title of Iain Ballamy's 'Quiet Inlet', the title of Marilyn Crispell's record seems to promise the usual late-night listening fare. It is a pity that ECM don't explore more aspects of their artists' range of expression. Why does almost everything this label releases have to be made so 'safe'?

If you think all of their "fare" is "safe", then you haven't been listening closely enough. Maybe Venus is more to your taste? where the Japanese producers (and Todd "I need my payday" Barkan) think that assimilation into American culture equates to pigeon-holing all American jazzers to play standards? Have at it if that's the case.

Edited April 13, 2010 by JETman

[Rooster_Ties]

Quiet Inlet by Food, Iain Ballamy, Thomas Stronen, and Nils Petter Molvaer

Anything with Nils Petter Molvaer (trumpet) could be interesting.

Saw him live in Washington D.C. just last June - at a Nordic Jazz Festival kind of thing, at the Swedish Embassy. It was just Molvaer, and a sound-effects guy (don't mean to dis the 2nd guy with that description, but he was doing all kinds of electronic stuff, none of it with a keyboard though). Very ethereal, but beautiful and lyrical.

The two Molvaer leader dates I have are wonderful (both on ECM), though I have to be in the right mood to want to hear them. A lot of his ideas remind me of Don Cherry, but with more of Miles' lyricism and coolness -- all backed with spacey and sometimes beat-driven 'ECM-ness'.

Anyone else think highly of Molvaer??

[CJ Shearn]

Katche is a great drummer that writes interesting tunes.

[clifford_thornton]

Mal Waldron's FREE AT LAST is the very first album that ECM ever released--been wanting to hear it for a long time. Thanks for the heads-up.

Not that this isn't a "good" record but the Japan-only ECM/Globe LP Spanish Bitch slays it.

[Rooster_Ties]

Not that this isn't a "good" record but the Japan-only ECM/Globe LP Spanish Bitch slays it.

Has "Spanish Bitch" ever been issued on CD?

[Guest Bill Barton]

Quiet Inlet by Food, Iain Ballamy, Thomas Stronen, and Nils Petter Molvaer

Anything with Nils Petter Molvaer (trumpet) could be interesting.

Saw him live in Washington D.C. just last June - at a Nordic Jazz Festival kind of thing, at the Swedish Embassy. It was just Molvaer, and a sound-effects guy (don't mean to dis the 2nd guy with that description, but he was doing all kinds of electronic stuff, none of it with a keyboard though). Very ethereal, but beautiful and lyrical.

The two Molvaer leader dates I have are wonderful (both on ECM), though I have to be in the right mood to want to hear them. A lot of his ideas remind me of Don Cherry, but with more of Miles' lyricism and coolness -- all backed with spacey and sometimes beat-driven 'ECM-ness'.

Anyone else think highly of Molvaer??

Yes, I like him very much. The only time that I heard him in performance it was about as far from the ECM vibe as you can get. The group included two very loud, very rock-oriented drummers, a turntablist, electric guitar, electric bass and - I think - keyboards. It was raucous, in-your-face, over-the-top kick out the jams stuff. I haven't heard any of his recordings that sound even remotely like this live show. Does anyone know if he's ever recorded anything along those lines? Sort of post-Agartha/Jack Johnson rather than post-Jon Hassell...

Edited April 13, 2010 by Bill Barton

[king ubu]

Katche is a perfect studio drummer who plays with lack of edge and writes boring run-of-the mill tunes :-)

Sorry, but that's how I hear him... I do like Trygve Seim though.

But I just played some Atomic on the ipod again recently ("Feet Music") and that stuff is so much livelier and actually breathes... and yet it has a lot of nordic vibes to it as well (beefed up with some of the exuberance you often hear in South African jazz).

[WorldB3]

Steve Tibbetts, Natural Causes

Anybody have any info on this aside that Marc Anderson is with him on this.

I'll probably grab it anyways even though I haven't hear anything by him post Big Map Idea.

[David Ayers]

Steve Tibbetts, Natural Causes

Anybody have any info on this aside that Marc Anderson is with him on this.

I'll probably grab it anyways even though I haven't hear anything by him post Big Map Idea.

Steve Tibbetts

Natural Causes

Steve Tibbetts: guitars, piano,

kalimba, bouzouki

Marc Anderson: percussion,

steel drum, gongs

ECM 1951 | CD 270 2164

Got these details from ECM pdf catalogue and that's all I know.

Edited to add: it's now on the ECM site and there is a dedicated page - http://player.ecmrecords.com/tibbetts

Among the items listed in the print catalog but not yet on the site is one which I have not seen announced yet but which will no doubt interest people here when it comes:

Roscoe Mitchell

and the Note Factory

Far Side

Roscoe Mitchell: saxophones, flutes

Corey Wilkes: trumpet, flugelhorn

Craig Taborn: piano

Vijay Iyer: piano

Harrison Bankhead: cello, double_bass

Jaribu Shahid: double_bass

Tani Tabbal: drums

Vincent Davis: drums

ECM 2087 | CD 270 4801

Edited April 14, 2010 by David Ayers

[king ubu]

anyone knows why it says "CD reissue in preparation" for Julian Priester's "Love, Love"? I go that CD reissue a couple of years ago...

[David Ayers]

anyone knows why it says "CD reissue in preparation" for Julian Priester's "Love, Love"? I go that CD reissue a couple of years ago...

Yeah it says it for a few that have been in print and/or still are in print in the US (e.g. Conference of the Birds). So I think it is just a re-pressing, unless these are on the way back in some other format (budget or deluxe) - we'll see.

[king ubu]

anyone knows why it says "CD reissue in preparation" for Julian Priester's "Love, Love"? I go that CD reissue a couple of years ago...

Yeah it says it for a few that have been in print and/or still are in print in the US (e.g. Conference of the Birds). So I think it is just a re-pressing, unless these are on the way back in some other format (budget or deluxe) - we'll see.

Weird - it's listed as in print both on amazon.com and amazon.de

[GA Russell]

I have received promos of seven new ECM releases, so I thought I would start a thread about them with a comment or two.

Manu Katche - Third Round

I really liked Katche's last album Playground, and looked forward to this. I find that it is not as exciting, quieter overall.

I keep the CDs I've opened in the past twelve months separate from the remainder of my collection, and I've been listening to them for the past two weeks. I don't think that Third Round is as good as Playground, but I do think that it is among the best I've gotten in the past year.

*****

Terje Rypdal - Crime Scene

Some of the tracks are loud and rock-influenced, while many are quiet in comparison. Crime Scene is unlike the few other Rypdal albums I have - he is accompanied by a big band with a lot of brass. I find myself exhausted when the album is over.

*****

Ketil Bjornstad - Remembrance

Other than the Keith Jarrett albums, this is about as mainstream as ECM gets. I like it. Sax, piano and drums. Why didn't they include a bass?

*****

I'll post regarding the other four when I get to them.

[kh1958]

I agree that the Manu Katche is not as interesting as his prior release. I was disappointed--I didn't care for it, for the most part.

Similarly, the Terje Rypdal disappointed me as well. There were a few tracks I liked (none of the ones with the big band), but not many.

[greggery peccary]

I have received promos of seven new ECM releases, so I thought I would start a thread about them with a comment or two.

Manu Katche - Third Round

I really liked Katche's last album Playground, and looked forward to this. I find that it is not as exciting, quieter overall.

I keep the CDs I've opened in the past twelve months separate from the remainder of my collection, and I've been listening to them for the past two weeks. I don't think that Third Round is as good as Playground, but I do think that it is among the best I've gotten in the past year.

*****

Terje Rypdal - Crime Scene

Some of the tracks are loud and rock-influenced, while many are quiet in comparison. Crime Scene is unlike the few other Rypdal albums I have - he is accompanied by a big band with a lot of brass. I find myself exhausted when the album is over.

*****

Ketil Bjornstad - Remembrance

Other than the Keith Jarrett albums, this is about as mainstream as ECM gets. I like it. Sax, piano and drums. Why didn't they include a bass?

*****

I'll post regarding the other four when I get to them.

Here's two:

ECM

Food

Quiet Inlet

Thomas Strønen: drums, live electronics

Iain Ballamy: tenor and soprano saxophones

Nils Petter Molvær: trumpet, electronics

Christian Fennesz: guitar, electronics

U.S. Release date: July 27, 2010

ECM CD: B0014463-02

UPC: 6025 273 4919 0

An album of lyrical improvisation, spacious atmospherics and dark pulses from the Food duo of Thomas Strønen and Iain Ballamy, joined by Nils Petter Molvær and Christian Fennesz - in performances captured at Oslo’s Blå club and the Molde Festival, in 2007 and 2008.

A decade earlier, Molde had hosted Food’s debut when English saxophonist Ballamy was invited to join three Norwegian players – Strønen, Arve Henriksen, Mats Eilertsen – for an experimental concert. The group ‘chemistry’ felt so right, from the first notes played, that the players continued as a band. For the next eight years, a Food quartet toured the world, also recording a series of well-received albums. In 2006, the group was revamped, with the core duo of Strønen and Ballamy henceforth joined by guests for special concerts and projects.

On Quiet Inlet, Food’s sixth album, and their first for ECM, Austrian guitarist and electronics player Fennesz is featured on the tracks “Tobiko”, “Mictyris”, “Fathom”, while Norwegian trumpeter Molvær appers on “Chimaera”, “Becalmed”, “Cirrina” and “Dweller” (making this NPM’s most extended appearance on ECM since his Solid Ether). In these open ended improvisations, the contexts are shaped by Food’s priorities, the emphases upon melodic playing, textural development and the creating and exploration of sound-environments. The acoustic aspects of Food’s music, with drums, bells, blocks gongs and lyrical saxophone, are enhanced by the use of live sampling as a structural element. The scope of expression runs, in Food’s words, “from minimalist to very turbulent.”

Both Iain Ballamy and Thomas Strønen are well-known figures in contemporary jazz and improvisation. Ballamy, who came to international attention in the 1980s as a member of the Loose Tubes collective and Bill Bruford’s Earthworks, continues to play with Django Bates in configurations including the group Human Chain. He has also worked with an extraordinarily wide range of bands and projects – from Hermeto Pascoal, Gil Evans and Mike Gibbs to Charlie Watts, the Karnataka College of Percussion and Billy Jenkins, led his own ensembles, written music for films, and taught at London’s Royal Academy and Trinity College. Food’s first recordings – Food and Organic & GM Food - were released on Ballamy’s own label, Feral Records.

Last year Food – Strønen /Ballamy plus Arve Henriksen - appeared with the London Sinfonietta, premiering a new work by Iain Ballamy, “Gold Acre.” The work was commissioned by BBC Radio 3, who had previously presented Food with the Innovation Award in the wider context of the British Jazz Awards.

Nils Petter Molvær came to ECM with Arild Andersen’s band Masqualero, appearing on three albums for the label, Bande à Part, Aero, and Re-Enter. He can also be heard on recordings with Robyn Schulkowsky (Hastening Westward), Marilyn Mazur (Small Labyrinths), Sidsel Endrsen (So I Write, Exile) and Jon Balke/Oslo 13 (Nonsentration). Molvær’s Khmer and Solid Ether albums with their striking mix of electric trumpet (with echoes of both Miles and Jon Hassell) electronics and hiphop beats launched the still-influential ‘nu jazz’ movement. Quiet Inlet marks Nils Petter’s first ECM appearance since Arild Anderen’s Electra (recorded 2003/4).

Austrian guitarist Christian Fennesz came out of the Vienna techno scene of the 1980s to spread his layers of electric guitar and processing textures across a broad span of music. Amongst his many musical associations: work with Ryuichi Sakamoto, David Sylvian (he is prominently featured on Sylvian’s recent Manafon album), and free improvising guitarist Keith Rowe... Albums issued under Fennesz’s name include a series of critically-acclaimed recordings for the Touch label.

And another:

ECM

Dino Saluzzi

El Encuentro

Dino Saluzzi: bandoneon

Anja Lechner: violoncello

Felix Saluzzi: saxophone

The Metropole Orchestra, conducted by Jules Buckley

U.S. Release date: July 27, 2010

ECM CD: B0014477-02

UPC: 0289 476 3834 6

Dino Saluzzi’s first live album for ECM finds the Argentinean bandoneon master at Amsterdam’s Muziekgebouw, presenting new orchestral compositions. Dino himself is principal soloist throughout the recording, joined by Anja Lechner and brother Felix Saluzzi at points along the way.

The flowing music, with strings shadowing the movement of the bandoneon, extends the spirit of Dino’s “storytelling” solo works such as “Andina” (to which the piece “Plegaria Andina” makes reference). Dino says, “a lot can be told using few elements. The music should not be too rational. It has to brim with innocence.” “On El Encuentro writes Javier Magistris in the liner notes, “the collaboration with cellist Anja Lechner and saxophonist Felix Saluzzi adds a new chapter of beauty in a wider and more complex structure. The soliloquies of the three main characters intertwine prodigiously, like a naturally-flowing current, each voice attaining its greatest expressive splendour by interacting with the harmonic structures.”

The project was set in motion by Amsterdam-based writer/producer Gustavo Pazos, who had visited Saluzzi in Buenos Aires in 2004 to prepare a radio portrait of the bandoneonist-composer, and got to hear some of Dino’s works-in-progress. Holland’s Metropole Orchestra subsequently expressed interest, and with the support of NPS Radio it was possible to present the music in Amsterdam. Pazos points out that the Metropole Orchestra has “fulfilled a major cultural role in the Netherlands” with its long history of encouraging musicians outside the classical mainstream.

El Encuentro marked a first-time encounter for composer and orchestra (and both the Metropole Orchestra and conductor Jules Buckley make ECM debuts here) but the cast of soloists draws on some long-standing playing associations, in the case of Dino and Felix more than 60 years of collaborations. They started making music together as children, and today Felix frequently works with his brother in Dino’s “family band” projects, as heard on albums including Mojotoro and Juan Condori. Felix also plays in a new group with Dino and cellist Anja Lechner, a trio whose formation was a direct result of the shared experience of playing together on El Encuentro.

Anja Lechner has worked closely with Dino since the mid-1990s, beginning with the Kultrum alliance between Saluzzi and the Rosamunde Quartet, a collaboration which in several respects prefigured El Encuentro. She has also toured widely in duo with the bandoneonist, and recorded with him on Ojos Negros in 2006.

El Encuentro (The Encounter) was released in Europe in time for Dino’s 75th birthday on May 20th, 2010.

In July 2010, Dino is the subject of a special ECM focus at the Atina jazz Festival in Italy. There, he will be joined on stage by Felix Saluzzi, Anja Lechner, John Surman, Palle Mikkelborg, Rosario Bonaccorso and UT Gandhi.

One of the most important figures in contemporary South American music, Timoteo "Dino" Saluzzi was born in Campo Santo in North Argentina and led his first group at the age of 14. He began to play professionally while studying in Buenos Aires, where he also met and befriended Astor Piazzolla, then in the process of developing the Tango Nuevo idiom. In 1956, Saluzzi returned to the district of Salta to concentrate on his compositions, now consciously incorporating folk music elements. In the early 1970s he was associated with Gato Barbieri, helping the saxophonist toward a rediscovery of his own roots on such influential albums as Chapter One: Latin America.

Saluzzi's ECM discography was launched in 1982 with a solo album titled Kultrum, a spontaneous example of the bandoneonist's art as "storyteller"; this marked the first of many "imaginary returns" to the little towns and villages of his childhood. From the beginning of the 1980s Saluzzi made numerous collaborations with European and American jazz musicians – amongst those initiated by ECM were meetings with Charlie Haden, Palle Mikkelborg and Pierre Favre (Once Upon A Time - Far Away In The South), with Enrico Rava (Volver), with Marc Johnson (Cité de la Musique), with Tomasz Stanko and John Surman (on Stanko's From The Green Hill ) and with Palle Danielsson (Responsorium). Of the 1996 recording collaboration with the Rosamunde Quartet Kultrum, Gramophone wrote “This particular recording is perhaps the best example I’ve yet heard of a music that rises naturally from its mixture of influences – here the South American tango and folk traditions and the European string quartet.” The orchestral El Encuentro takes the story to the next stage of development.

Conductor Jules Buckley has specialized in music between the idioms, and worked with musicians from Airto Moreira to Brian Eno to the Arctic Monkeys. Guest conductor with the Metropole Orchestra, he first came to wider attention in 2004 as the founder/director of the Heritage Orchestra.

CD package includes 28 page Spanish/English booklet with liner notes by Javier Magistris and Gustavo Pazos, plus artist photos

Edited July 16, 2010 by greggery peccary

[David Ayers]

Is it worth combining this with the ECM thread where we already discussed some of these releases?

[David Ayers]

Upcoming ECMs listed on amazon - no sign yet of the Roscoe.

Officium Novum by Jan Garbarek and The Hilliard Ensemble

The Rub and Spare Change by Michael Formanek, Tim Berne, Craig Taborn, and Gerald Cleaver

Stories Yet to Tell by Norma Winstone, Klaus Gesing, and Glauco Venier

And If by Anat Fort Trio

Maria's Song by Sinikka Langeland, Lars Anders Tomter, and Kare Nordstoga

[GA Russell]

David, you're probably right, but since this thread is started I'll continue it.

Steve Tibbetts - Natural Causes

This isn't my idea of jazz. I would call it New Age. Accoustic guitar, with early tracks sounding Oriental. Very mild background music.

[GA Russell]

Dino Saluzzi - El Encuentro

I consider this a symphonic classical album. It's enjoyable if that's your cup of tea.

*****

Food - Quiet Inlet

This has the unusual combination of Tangerine Dream-like electronics with ethereal horns. I enjoy the early tracks, but not so much the later ones.

I really like the drumming of Thomas Stronen. In fact, I'd say that the album wouldn't be much without it.

[WorldB3]

Food - Quiet Inlet

This has the unusual combination of Tangerine Dream-like electronics with ethereal horns. I enjoy the early tracks, but not so much the later ones.

I really like the drumming of Thomas Stronen. In fact, I'd say that the album wouldn't be much without it.

I am enjoying Quiet Inlet as well but mostly due to the drumming.

[J.A.W.]

Is it worth combining this with the ECM thread where we already discussed some of these releases?

Threads merged to keep all news and opinions on ECM releases in one place. It makes a search much easier.

[A Lark Ascending]

Food - Quiet Inlet

This has the unusual combination of Tangerine Dream-like electronics with ethereal horns. I enjoy the early tracks, but not so much the later ones.

I really like the drumming of Thomas Stronen. In fact, I'd say that the album wouldn't be much without it.

I saw this band (or a version of it) earlier in the year - to be honest my mind drifted. Lots of electronic backwash with the music ebbing and flowing but no clear sense of structure. A pity, as Iain Ballamy is one of the UK's most distinctive sax players but he seemed quite anonymous in this.

Might appeal to those with more of a taste for electronica.

[LWayne]

Any other feedback on the new Dino Saluzzi? I was a big fan of "Ojos Negros" and "Responsorium" (Liked the latter better).

Thanks,

LWayne