21.07.2023 | Reissue
ECM Records continues its series of Hi-Res reissues from its early analog era. This summer’s batch of digitalized Hi-Res releases includes seminal albums by Jan Garbarek, Chick Corea, Dave Holland, Thomasz Stanko, Jack DeJohnette, Eberhard Weber, Paul Motian, Ralph Towner, Egberto Gismonti and many more. As with all Hi-Res releases from ECM’s vast catalogue to date, the underlying premise in digitizing the analogue tapes is not to change the sound of the recordings, but to realize them in their original form, in the most detailed and best possible quality.
TECHNICAL SPECS:
In the capable hands of mastering engineer Christoph Stickel, the process begins with the original, analogue stereo master tapes. The masters are in excellent condition and can be played without problems. All tapes are played by a Studer A820, which is meticulously calibrated to the respective tape. The analog signal is then digitized in 96kHz/24-bit, which covers the complete spectrum of the original tapes. In each case, a decision is made between a PrismSound ADA-8XR, an Antelope Eclipse Mastering AD, and a Mytek Brooklyn ADC, depending on which one is suited best for the respective recording. No de-noising and no other restoration affecting the sound is applied.
Derek Bailey, Evan Parker, Hugh Davies, Jamie Muir, Christine Jeffrey
THE MUSIC IMPROVISATION COMPANY
The Music Improvisation Company documents the coming together of some of Britain’s most adventurous improvisers – guitar experimentalist Derek Bailey, saxophonist Evan Parker, electronics-man Hugh Davies and percussionist Jamie Muir –, combining their multiple-idioms spanning reach in a fiery display of collective musicianship. Here shape, texture and oblique dissonant constructions operate on equal terms.
Discover the album in HD here.
Chick Corea, Dave Holland, Barry Altschul
A.R.C.
Chick Corea’s first leader date for ECM, recorded in January 1971, emphasized his creative alliance with Dave Holland. The pianist and bassist had bonded musically during their years with Miles Davis and both were committed to extending the possibilities of improvisation in a period when, as Corea would put it “the atmosphere seemed charged with desire for new sounds and new ways.” The trio was completed by Barry Altschul, whose detailed and dynamic drumming had been fine-tuned through his work with Paul Bley. Repertoire on A.R.C. includes compositions by Corea and Holland, group improvising, and an inspired account of Wayne Shorter’s “Nefertiti”.
Discover the album in HD here.
Ralph Towner with Glen Moore
TRIOS / SOLOS
Occasionally accompanied by oboist Paul McCandless and by Colin Walcott on tabla, Ralph Towner’s first recording on ECM, in collaboration with bassist Glenn Moore, demonstrates the guitarist in various chamber musical settings, improvising sketches as well as more elaborate musical forms with capable counterparts. When the album was released in 1973, the German weekly Die Zeit described the pieces as “modern jazz poems – full of beautiful metaphors and reflections, suggesting moods, awakening feelings.” Down Beat: This is a simply stunning record – direct and beautiful. It has the appearance of delicacy, but there’s not a moment of fragility.”
Discover the album in HD here.
Stanley Cowell Trio
ILLUSION SUITE
On Illusion Suite, “the charms are quiet”, as Down Beat put it, reviewing the album in 1974. “it creeps up on you and hits you in the ear in subtle ways. Things you hadn’t noticed keep jumping out. This album most directly and accurately pictures [Stanley Cowell’s] fresh keyboard approach”. On the album – Cowell’s only recording for ECM – the pianist’s trio is completed by Stanley Clarke on bass and Jimmy Hopps on drums.
Discover the album in HD here.
Paul Motian
CONCEPTION VESSEL
With ECM’s encouragement drummer Paul Motian takes his first steps as project leader and composer, and an extraordinary album is realized. On the heels of the recording’s release in 1973, Stereo Review lauded Paul Motian, calling him “a modern traditionalist who can turn a set of drums into an orchestra without overshadowing his fellow players.” This debut is exemplary of this unique quality.
Discover the album in HD here.
Jan Garbarek, Edward Vesala, Arild Andersen
TRIPTYKON
An early document of Jan Garbarek as free improviser on ECM, Triptykon sees the saxophonist paired up with his Norwegian cohort Arild Andersen and the Finnish percussionist Edward Vesala. The Swiss weekly Weltwoche had high praise for the album in the year of its release: “In this Norwegian triptych, free jazz has found a form that doesn’t need not be feared as shackles.”
Discover the album in HD here.
Eberhard Weber
THE COLOURS OF CHLOE
“Symphonic jazz – picturesque, romantic, at times rhythmically involved, at others minimalistic and harmonically abstruse,” is how Allmusic describes Eberhard Weber’s ECM debut from 1974, calling it an “ambitious”, “and influential work”. On the record, the bassist is joined by the cellos of the Südfunk Symphony Orchestra Stuttgart as well as his band of Peter Giger and Ralf Hübner on percussion, Ack van Rooyen on flugelhorn and Rainer Brüninghaus on piano and synthesizer. The album won the Deutscher Schallplattenpreis in 1975.
Discover the album in HD here.
Tomasz Stanko, Tomasz Szukalski, Dave Holland, Edward Vesala
BALLADYNA
Stanko’s first for ECM, and a splendid introduction to the “predatory lyricism” that is the Polish trumpeter’s stylistic trademark.
Discover the album in HD here.
Barre Phillips
MOUNTAINSCAPES
Barre Phillips’ Mountainscapes brings together strongly contrasting elements, the furious high-energy playing of the Surman/Phillips/Martin trio juxtaposed with spacious impressionistic pieces originally created for Carolyn Carlson’s ballet dancers. The integration of acoustic instruments and electronics (with three of the musicians playing synthesizers) is beautifully balanced in the production. John Abercrombie dropped by the studio to jam on the last track, raising the energy level still higher. Recorded in March 1976, Mountainscapes was described by Melody Maker as “vast, awesome and glorious” and “a starting point for the shape of jazz to come.”
Discover the album in HD here.
Edward Vesala
NAN MADOL
Finnish percussionist Edward Vesala’s debut on ECM Records may also be his most fiery outing for the label. On the album, Vesala assembles a particularly lively big band of Finns, who interpret his music with blazing colours. In 1976, when the album was released, Melody Maker suggested that “John Coltrane might have made music like this had he been born a European. Nan Madol is an orgy of sound, no other description can suffice and ‘Areous Vlor Ta’ remains one of the most extraordinary and moving big band scorings…. Put it next to ‘Ascension’ in your collection.”
Discover the album in HD here.
Egberto Gismonti
SOL DO MEIO DIA
“This album is a classic, no doubt about it.” – Jazziz, 1988
On this 1978 album, the Brazilian guitarist Egberto Gismonti is accompanied by his frequent collaborator on percussion, Nana Vasconcelos, as well as Ralph Towner, Collin Walcott and Jan Garbarek – all of them being or having been ECM stalwarts. The album is inspired by Egberto’s time spent with the Xingu of the Amazon, to whom the album is dedicated.
Discover the album in HD here.
David Darling
JOURNAL OCTOBER – SOLO CELLO
David Darling’s inspired contribution to Ralph Towner’s Old Friends, New Friends in June 1979 led to the scheduling of this solo cello album four months later. An exploration of atmospheres and textures, with imaginative use of overdubbing to create rich waves of string sound, Journal October was an influential recording. Its poetic, evocative character was particularly welcomed by filmmakers including Jean-Luc Godard, who subsequently incorporated music by Darling in his Nouvelle Vague and Histoire(s) du Cinéma projects.
Discover the album in HD here.
Jack DeJohnette’s Special Edition
INFLATION BLUES
„A roller coaster“, „with parabolic orbits of rim-shots, rolls, and cymbal washes wiping down the sides. Jack DeJohnette again illustrates why he’s one of the leading drummers of this era” Down Beat, 1983
On Inflation Blues, Jack DeJohnette takes his Special Edition band down unexplored avenues with a strong emphasis on group interaction. The band is John Purcell and Chico Freeman on reeds, Baikida Carroll on trumpet and Rufus Reid on bass. Commenting on the group’s fiery interplay in 1983, when the album was released, Stereo Review said “Jack DeJohnette’s Special Edition swirls around like fireworks and pops into glorious displays of colors and shapes.”
Discover the album in HD here.
