Brian Morton article

[CGR]

I think that , at one point, the prevailing trend on "All about jazz" was John Kelman's enthusiasm for ECM records. Although I think that JK is a total gent, I was always exasperated by the almost hagiographical reviews he gave to records from this label. I can remember him being pushed in the messageboard that used to be on the site whether he thought there were any bad ECM discs. He then cited a number which he believed were unlistenable although this did nothing to really assuage my opinion than he was high scoring a lot of mediocre records, many of which only had the briefest of links to jazz. I suppose that if you like a school record label, this is going to colour your opinion - even more the case on a "marmite" label like ECM.

Wasn't there a close relationship between All About Jazz and ECM at one point? Sponsorship or something like that. "The Jazz Session" podcast that was promoted by All About Jazz back in the mid 2010s went through a period of interviewing loads of ECM artists at the same time, though the podcast certainly did not gain financially. The weekly pain of the presenter trying to raise funding by appealing for money in each show was sad and he eventually had some sort of breakdown. Though he's now back and the podcast has returned. The Jazz Session archive is a treasure trove of jazz interviews - http://www.thejazzsession.com/

I subscribe to Jazzwise, but I find its chasing and hyping of the next new band/solosist to be a bit of a pain. Most seem to disappear off the radar as soon as they appear. I suppose thats how they get the adverts and the income.