Home » Search Center » Results: ECM Records
Results for "ECM Records"
Charles Lloyd/Billy Higgins: Which Way Is East
by David Adler
“We got to keep workin’ on this music.” Four months before his death, drum shaman Billy Higgins spoke those words to Charles Lloyd. The two were in the midst of some of their final conversations, both verbal and musical. Higgins had been in and out of hospitals, battling liver failure, and he and Lloyd knew their ...
Tomasz Stanko: Suspended Night
by Jeff Stockton
If you’re reading this review, there’s little doubt that you consider yourself a jazz fan. And as such, you’ve probably heard a person say to you with all conviction: “I don’t like jazz.” Miles in the ‘50s? Coltrane on Atlantic? What’s not to like? But when I hear this, I usually just let it go, frustrated ...
Evan Parker's Electro-Accoustic Ensemble: Memory/Vision
by Dan McClenaghan
In 1968 Miles Davis' use of the Fender Rhodes electric piano on Filles de Kilimanjaro caused quite s stir. This same year saw a seminal classical/electronic music release entitled Switched on Bach by Walter (now Wendy) Carlos, a set of Johann Sebastian Bach compositions played on the then-new music synthesizer. 1968 was also the year the ...
Charles Lloyd/Billy Higgins: Which Way Is East
by Mark Corroto
Name your religion. Seriously, these days everyone from President “Dubya" to freedom fighters is wearing his or her religion on their sleeves. Why not jazz musicians? And jazz musicians seem to “get it." The spiritual part, that is. From Coltrane to James Moody and Dizzy Gillespie—it’s all about the love supreme, if I ...
Tomasz Stanko: Suspended Night
by AAJ Staff
It won't come as a surprise to listeners attuned to trumpeter Tomasz Stanko's personal style, but Suspended Night is an incredibly soft and gentle record. Of course, the danger with toning things down is that they sometimes expire, but Stanko knows how to move along simply without running out of gas. The sheer elegance of the ...
Steve Kuhn: Promises Kept
by John Kelman
Combining jazz composition with orchestration is always a risky proposition; the outcome can often be bombastic, syrupy or melodramatic. But in the proper hands the combination can yield a result that is truly beautiful, allowing for a dramatic enhancement of the writing that, while allowing for some improvisational context, truly brings out its essence. “A life's ...
Marilyn Crispell Trio: Storyteller
by John Kelman
Improvised music is often described as a conversation. Consider album titles like Conversations with Myself , Interconnection , and Duologues. Pianist Marilyn Crispell's last two recordings for ECM, Nothing Ever Was, Anyway and the quietly dramatic Amaryllis , placed her in discussion with two artists who have proven to be brilliant communicators over lengthy careers, bassist ...
Arild Andersen / Vassilis Tsaboropoulos / John Marshall: The Triangle
by John Kelman
What a difference four years and touring time can make. The Triangle, the follow-up to 2000's sublime trio recording Achirana, shows a group that has grown in leaps and bounds, becoming something more, something larger. Clearly Vassillis Tsaboropoulos, an established classical pianist whose first recording of improvised music was Achirana, has evolved. While the ...
Tomasz Stanko: Suspended Night
by John Kelman
No matter how much you like a record, after repeat listenings it runs the risk of becoming almost too familiar. As adventurous as it may be, the very nature of the recording process, where every note and texture is given permanency, can cause even the best albums to lose their sense of adventure and immediacy. Not ...
John Abercrombie: Class Trip
by AAJ Staff
Followers of guitarist John Abercrombie were taken aback by 2002's Cat 'n' Mouse , featuring violinist Mark Feldman, bassist Marc Johnson, and drummer Joey Baron. Maybe it was the personnel, maybe the right time and place, or maybe a moment of clarity on everyone's account, but the group resonated as well as any Abercrombie has ever ...
