If ever you want proof that the ECM label has run out of steam I would suggest snapping up a copy of the eponymous album Terje Rypdal / Miroslav Vitous / Jack DeJohnette. I managed to get held of a very cheap re-issue with this and it was great to be reacquianted with the opening "Sunrise" where the drummer committed some of his crispest and driving drummer on record. Alot of the energy stems from his symbals and the combination of the drumming being at double the speed with Terje Rypdal's Hank Marvin inspired guitar and the bowed bass is archetypal ECM. The next track, "Den forst sne" is even better with the melody taking some delicious harmonic contours.
I love the fact that Rypdal is in jazz but not obviously a jazz musician. Thisw record sums up the kind of stuff he was producing in the 70's when ECM was at the forefront of jazz and regularly producing fresh and vibrant new music. You can't imagine Manfred Eicher releasing the closing free improvisation "Seasons" on any recent release of his. This record fizzes with excitement and if "Will" seems to pressage the future, more reflective element of the label's output, overall the record is typical of the Brave New World of jazz that ECM stood for at the time. Even later Rypdal discs have gone a bit techno and lack the air and freshness of the music he was producing in the 70's. Even in the following decade, there was an ability to demonstrate a genuine lack of ECM's restrained taste with "The Singles Collection" which sounds like a mash-up of the Shadows with the funkiness of Prince when he was still good.
i wouldn't mind getting "Waves" either as it features two of my favourite Scandinavian jazz musicians, drummer Jon Christensen and the under-rated Palle Mikkelborg. Nowadays, aside from the odd album by Charles Lloyd, Keith Jarrett and the waifs and strays from the US who crop up from time to time, the music on the label is becoming as uninsteresting as the covers.
Wondered if anyone else felt that alot of the output of the ECM label in the 70's and 80's would have the same cache as Blue Note in the 50's or 60's or Commodore in the 30's?
I love the fact that Rypdal is in jazz but not obviously a jazz musician. Thisw record sums up the kind of stuff he was producing in the 70's when ECM was at the forefront of jazz and regularly producing fresh and vibrant new music. You can't imagine Manfred Eicher releasing the closing free improvisation "Seasons" on any recent release of his. This record fizzes with excitement and if "Will" seems to pressage the future, more reflective element of the label's output, overall the record is typical of the Brave New World of jazz that ECM stood for at the time. Even later Rypdal discs have gone a bit techno and lack the air and freshness of the music he was producing in the 70's. Even in the following decade, there was an ability to demonstrate a genuine lack of ECM's restrained taste with "The Singles Collection" which sounds like a mash-up of the Shadows with the funkiness of Prince when he was still good.
i wouldn't mind getting "Waves" either as it features two of my favourite Scandinavian jazz musicians, drummer Jon Christensen and the under-rated Palle Mikkelborg. Nowadays, aside from the odd album by Charles Lloyd, Keith Jarrett and the waifs and strays from the US who crop up from time to time, the music on the label is becoming as uninsteresting as the covers.
Wondered if anyone else felt that alot of the output of the ECM label in the 70's and 80's would have the same cache as Blue Note in the 50's or 60's or Commodore in the 30's?
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