ECM now available to stream

[Stunsworth]

Apologies if it’s been mentioned elsewhere, but the ECM label is now available to stream on all the major streaming outlets. Currently listening to Andras Schiff’s Bach on Qobuz.

[Serial_Apologist]

Ian Thumwood will be pleased to know about this!

[BLUESNIK'S REVOX]

"Murder in the Cathedral"

[DublinJimbo]

At last. Such a treasure trove of wonderful recordings. I've also been dipping in on Qobuz. Most recently heard Carolin Widmann (with Alexander Lonquich) playing Schubert (Fantasia in C, Rondo in B minor, Violin Sonata D.574). Pure joy.

[Stunsworth]

At last. Such a treasure trove of wonderful recordings. I've also been dipping in on Qobuz. Most recently heard Carolin Widmann (with Alexander Lonquich) playing Schubert (Fantasia in C, Rondo in B minor, Violin Sonata D.574). Pure joy.

I’m listening to a June Tabor album at the moment - I didn’t even know she’d recorded for the label.

Now if only Hyperion would reverse their decision to abandon streaming.

[Ian Thumwood]

Ian Thumwood will be pleased to know about this!

As someone once said about ECM, you spend a third of your life asleep, isn't that enough?

[MrGongGong]

As someone once said about ECM, you spend a third of your life asleep, isn't that enough?

aaah yes
but Garbarek's bathroom has a wonderful acoustic
At least all the ECM albums I have are blessedly free from "Jazz singing"

[Ian Thumwood]

aaah yes
but Garbarek's bathroom has a wonderful acoustic
At least all the ECM albums I have are blessedly free from "Jazz singing"

What about the stuff Norma Winstone made under her own name or with Azimuth let alone the performance of Sheila Jordon on George Gruntz's excellent "Theatre" disc.

Don't get me wrong, I love a lot of ECM stuff but it became I danger of being a parody of itself after the mid 1990's. I only have a handful of ECM recording made after 2000 as so much of what the label produces leaves me cold. The production values are unnatural and the reluctance to allow musicians to really let loose makes the output very samey. It is odd how stylistically different groups are rendered very similar by Manfed Eicher's production values. This is a label whose output is no bordering on being depressive. No longer a fan, I am afraid.

[Bryn]

aaah yes
but Garbarek's bathroom has a wonderful acoustic
At least all the ECM albums I have are blessedly free from "Jazz singing"

You don't like scat? Ah logical.

[MrGongGong]

What about the stuff Norma Winstone made under her own name or with Azimuth let alone the performance of Sheila Jordon on George Gruntz's excellent "Theatre" disc.

Haven't got those
BUT I'm not sure what you mean by this

. The production values are unnatural

?

(what ever happened to Mr "Natural" soundbalance anyway?)

I know a couple of people who have albums on ECM and they say very interesting things about the experience

[MrGongGong]

You don't like scat? Ah logical.

It's appropriately named IMV

[Serial_Apologist]

Scatological, not eschatological.

My problems with ECM go back further than 2000; I could never really hack the jazz group with the acoustic bass right by my left speaker/ear, and the rest of the band way back in some echoey cave. or aircraft hangar, which was how Kenny Wheeler's otherwise musically fantastic 1984 Double, Double You comes over. For many that album was the culmination of Kenny's contribution to that label, but in Kenny's case I admit I much prefer the more "boxy" intimacy of Flutter By, Butterfly on the Italian Black Saint label, with a different drummer from DeJohnette and Stan Sulzmann in place of Mike Brecker, and Kenny's nearness to the mikes in place of the monumentalising way the German label presented his style and trumpet tone. It evokes what he sounds like in club sitations and is more honest. I suppose I would say "honesty" is the key here. In fact I would go back as far as Garbarek's ECM "Places" album of 1977, in which effectively nothing happens and even John Taylor is reduced to producing organ washes as marking the start of the slide - prompting a friend and very good musician to exclaim, without apparent irony, "Garbarek may not play that many notes, but with his tone, two notes are worth more than an entire John Coltrane solo". I gave away that record to him.

[ferneyhoughgeliebte]

Carolin Widmann (with Alexander Lonquich) playing Schubert (Fantasia in C, Rondo in B minor, Violin Sonata D.574). Pure joy.

[Ian Thumwood]

The weird thing about a lot of ECM material is that you realise the studio is like an additional musician when you hear the musicians perform in concert. There have been a few concerts by the likes of Stanko and Gismonti that I have been to which seem to have the artist diminished by the fact that something is added by the studio production. It is difficult to put your finger on.

The weird thing about ECM is that there are alleged to be a number of recording sessions that have never come to light on records because Eicher left that the music produced did not match the aesthetic he was trying to achieve for the label. At one point I was a huge fan of ECM and could understand this but I would add this was at a point in the 1980s when the music he issued did cover a wide range of basses from groups like Lester Bowie's Brass Fantasy through to John Abercrombie's trio, Keith Jarrett and Ralph Towner. They have been oddly humourless and dour of late but there was a time when the music enclosed within could sometimes be boisterous. It was often fascinating such as the Dino Saluzzi album with Palle Mikkelborg and Charlie Haden.

I quite like some of Kenny Wheeler's music on ECM but I understand that Eicher became disinterested in him. I think the same was true of Dave Holland's music. I would also add that there is a sizeable portion of their output which sounds hopelessly dated. Eberhard Weber is a prime example and this sounds very much of it's time. I don't think that much of Garbarek's music stands up to scrutiny either. He had a great run with Jarrett's quartet and there are albums such as "Paradigm" with Gary Peacock where the low-key melancholy works a treat. His own groups have produced records which are pretty much unplayable in 2017 with their dated synth washes.

The annoying thing for me with ECM these days is that they have artists on the label that I like and have followed whilst they were signed to other labels yet their latest efforts have been diminished by Eicher's philosophy. I cannot listen to Vijay Iyer's stuff now that he has signed for ECM for example. As explained previously, I feel that Eicher is like Jurgen Klopp at Liverpool, stealing everyone else's talent but somehow the results are diminished under his stewardship.

[MrGongGong]

The weird thing about a lot of ECM material is that you realise the studio is like an additional musician when you hear the musicians perform in concert.

aaah that says a lot about what you might be imagining a recording is for

The recording process/studio is always something that is present in recordings.
I guess i'm not as attached to the idea of "Jazz" as other folks and don't really think of much of this as "Jazz" anyway. (my wife calls it "Scandinavian not-jazz")

Not everything on ECM is great by any means but there are some very interesting things.

As it was her birthday yesterday how about some Meredith Monk ?

https://www.ecmrecords.com/catalogue/143038752201/facing-north-meredith-monk-w-robert-een-meredith-monk-w-robert-een