What's New?

[bluenoter]

This recording with Stefano Bollani is the antithesis of what Mark Turner discussed in his clip, with not one, but two chordal instruments, guitar and piano. It's a beauty, too.

There are many possibilities that satisfy.

Nice observation, Ron.
____________________________________________________________________________________


An upcoming release ("early" or "spring" 2015)





The still-unnamed album, produced by Manfred Eicher, was recorded in late June 2014. It will be the Vijay Iyer Trio's third recording and ECM debut.

All three artists noted that news online.

[7/4]

Looking forward to this one, due any days now.

I'd like to hear more guitar on ECM!

[bluenoter]

A new compilation


http://tinyurl.com/ECMpageManu





U.S. release date: August 26, 2014

However, at Amazon.com and CDUniverse.com, the album, so far, is "specially priced"
in the wrong direction.

Grooves-Inc.com is an online seller based in Germany, where the album was released
a few days ago. If you know them (I don't) or are willing to take a chance on them,
you can, at present, buy the album from them for about half as much, including shipping
to the United States.

http://tinyurl.com/Grooves-IncPageManu

[bluenoter]

In JT's Jazz News forum, a thread about Kenny Wheeler's predicament and some efforts to help:

Kenny Wheeler is ailing

[bluenoter]

A new release


European release date: August 22, 2014 | Scheduled U.S. release date: September 30, 2014

Listen to a track or order at ECM

Pre-order or order at CD Universe

[bluenoter]

Both Stefano Bollani and Enrico Rava were interviewed for a recently broadcast segment of NPR's All Things Considered that explored the many sides of Bollani. This article, which is very similar to the transcript of the segment, appears with the transcript, the audio, and a couple of video clips at npr.org, here.

[bluenoter]

In JT's Jazz News forum, a thread about Kenny Wheeler's predicament and some efforts to help:

Kenny Wheeler is ailing

Sadly, that thread has been superseded by this thread in JT's R.I.P. subforum (where JT members can note any future efforts to assist Mr. Wheeler's wife, Doreen):

Kenny Wheeler — R.I.P.

[bluenoter]

Doug Ramsey, a recipient of the Jazz Journalists Association's lifetime achievement award, posts his recommendations not daily but weekly, if that often. His recent post on Lathe of Heaven, below, concludes, "This splendid collection is [Mark] Turner’s first album as a leader since his Dharma Days of 2001. It’s high time."


http://www.artsjournal.com/rifftides/2014/09/monday-recommendation-mark-turner.html

[bluenoter]

Two new releases | U.S. release date: October 7, 2014





David Virelles—Mbókò: Sacred Music for Piano, Two Basses, Drum Set and Biankoméko Abakuá
    At Amazon: http://tinyurl.com/VirellesMboko


Marcin Wasilewski Trio with Joakim Milder—Spark of Life
    At Amazon: http://tinyurl.com/WasilewskiSparkofLife

[bluenoter]

Lathe of Heaven has been reviewed in JT's Record Reviews forum, here.

[bluenoter]

A new release

The legendary Keith Jarrett Trio, playing live at NDR Funkhaus, Hamburg in July 1972, is captured at the very apex of its creativity on an album released for the first time by ECM. . . .

The trio with Charlie Haden and Paul Motian—formed in 1966—was Jarrett's first great band, his choice of players a masterstroke. With the bassist who had learned his craft in Ornette Coleman's band, and the drummer from Bill Evans's ground-breaking trio, Jarrett was able to explore the full scope of modern jazz, from poetic balladry to hard-swinging time-playing to ferocious and fiery free music.

The improvisation heard in the Hamburg concert includes episodes with Keith on soprano sax and flute as well as piano, while Motian expands the role of percussion in the music, developing the supple, elastic, supremely unpredictable vocabulary that would subsequently become such a crucial part of both Jarrett's groups and Paul's own. The interaction between the three musicians is uncanny throughout, reaching a peak in an emotion-drenched performance of Charlie Haden's "Song for Che" (this is Jarrett's only recording of a piece that has become a new jazz classic).

ECM set up the 1972 tour of the Jarrett Trio, including the German radio concert from which this album is drawn. Manfred Eicher returned to the original tapes, remixing the music for this edition together with Jan Erik Kongshaug in Oslo in July 2014.

Personnel: Keith Jarrett (piano, flute, percussion, soprano saxophone), Charlie Haden (double bass), Paul Motian (drums, percussion)

http://tinyurl.com/ProperMusicWebsite

http://www.amazon.com/Hamburg-72-Keith-Jarrett/dp/B00OAMJOBA

https://www.facebook.com/keithjarrettsolo/posts/708748349216805

[Ron Thorne]

That's a very exciting, important release, bluenoter.

I'm very anxious to hear it, but will resist the temptation to pull the trigger since the Christmas gift season is not far away.

[bluenoter]

A new release

U.S. release date: November 24, 2014

In 1968, composer-trumpeter Michael Mantler recorded The Jazz Composer’s Orchestra. Released on the JCOA label (and subsequently distributed by ECM), this classic, groundbreaking album of composition and improvisation featured Mantler conducting a large jazz orchestra that included some of the era’s iconic free improvisers as soloists: pianist Cecil Taylor, cornetist Don Cherry, trombonist Roswell Rudd, saxophonist Pharoah Sanders, guitarist Larry Coryell, saxophonist Gato Barbieri. In the process of digitizing his catalog, Mantler reacquainted himself with early scores, eventually envisioning fresh performances of this vintage material. With The Jazz Composer’s Orchestra Update, Mantler has re-imagined his 1960s music for the 21st century, with electric guitar and amplified string quartet added to the instrumentation. The Nouvelle Cuisine Big Band of energized young Europeans, conducted by Christoph Cech and featuring Mantler on trumpet, was recorded in these updated scores live at Vienna’s Porgy & Bess club in 2013. Just as the original did in 1968, the result sounds stirringly contemporary, brimming with dark majesty and a bright sense of sonic possibility.

1    Update One              4:47
2    Update Eight             6:00
3    Update Nine              5:45
4    Update Eleven           7:01
5    Update Five              5:03
6    Update Six                7:23
7    Update Ten               6:45
8    Update Twelve Pt. 1  6:50
9    Update Twelve Pt. 2  2:48
10  Update Twelve Pt. 3  2:29

Total duration: 54:56

http://player.ecmrecords.com/mantler-2391    (click the Music tab to listen to Track 1)

http://www.amazon.com/The-Jazz-Composers-Orchestra-Update/dp/B00NQZLGHM

[bluenoter]

An upcoming release                         ECM 2420   






For more information:

http://tinyurl.com/a-press-release

http://www.treffpunktmusikshop.de/product_info.php?products_id=1110971
(track details from a German site)


At Amazon:

http://www.amazon.com/Break-Stuff-Vijay-Iyer/dp/B00PX8DEFC/ref=sr_1_4

[bluenoter]

A new release                       U.S. release date:  January 13, 2015                           ECM 2387

Imaginary Cities, an album of great power and expressive range, is the recording premiere of
saxophonist Chris Potter's new Underground Orchestra.

At the core of this larger ensemble . . . is the personnel of his long-established Underground quartet—
with Adam Rogers, Craig Taborn and Nate Smith—now joined by two bassists, a string quartet, and
Potter's old comrade from Dave Holland Quintet days, vibes and marimba man Steve Nelson.

The title composition is a suite, panoramic in its reach, with movements subtitled "Compassion,"
"Dualities," "Disintegration" and "Rebuilding." The scope of the work, and its contrasting moods and
thematic development, inspires some of Potter's finest playing. His saxes fly high above his idealized
cityscapes or launch into dialogues or group improvising. . . . Four further pieces —"Lament," "Firefly,"
"Sky" and "Shadow Self"—extend the feeling of the suite, successfully combining both tightly written
material and very open areas involving all members of the orchestra.

References are multi-idiomatic and multicultural, and Potter, who counts Charlie Parker with Strings
amongst his formative enthusiasms, had Arabic and Indian string sections in mind, as well as
contemporary composition, when shaping this material. Imaginary Cities was recorded in December
2013 in New York's Avatar Studios and produced by Manfred Eicher.

http://www.amazon.com/Imaginary-Cities-Potter-Underground-Orchestra/dp/B00PX8DEX4

http://www.propermusic.com/product-details/Chris-Potter-Underground-Orchestra-Imaginary-Cities-183788

[bluenoter]

A new release                                      U.S. release date: February 3, 2015                                             ECM 2388

ECM Player—click on the Music tab to hear Track 7

Kenny Wheeler (1930–2014) was an unassuming giant of modern jazz, a daring improviser, and a writer of many beautiful
and slyly unorthodox tunes. His recorded legacy includes albums now regarded as contemporary jazz classics, such as
Gnu High, Deer Wan, and Music For Large And Small Ensembles. In December 2013 he recorded what was to be his last album.
Songs for Quintet, an inspirational session featuring Wheeler compositions of recent vintage (plus a fresh approach to
"Nonetheless," first heard on Angel Song), was recorded in London's Abbey Road Studios with four of Kenny's favorite
players. Stan Sulzmann, John Parricelli, Chris Laurence, and Martin France work together marvelously as an interactive unit,
solo persuasively, and provide support for the tender and lyrical flugelhorn of the bandleader. Songs for Quintet was issued
on January 14, 2015, which would have been Kenny Wheeler's 85th birthday.

http://www.ecmrecords.com/Catalogue/ECM/2300/2388.php

http://www.amazon.com/Songs-Quintet-Kenny-Wheeler/dp/B00Q5OCUB2

[Ron Thorne]

Oh, boy! I'm not familiar with the supporting musicians, but I'm confident that they're superb. The overall sound and "atmosphere" of track #7 bodes well for the remainder of the recording. I'll pre-order this one with pleasure.

[Ron Thorne]

ECM Newsletter 2

22.01.2015 - 17:15 Uhr

__________________________________________________________________________________________________
ECM

Happy Birthday Eberhard! Today Eberhard Weber, the great German bass player and true jazz legend, turns 75!

A two night gala concert with an impressive lineup will be staged in Stuttgart to celebrate Eberhard this Friday and Saturday. Pat Metheny, Jan Garbarek, Ralph Towner, Gary Burton, Michael Gibbs, Danny Gottlieb, Scott Colley, and Paul McCandless are set to appear at Theaterhaus Stuttgart.
At the first night Weber will be presented a lifetime award, the newly created Landes-Jazzpreis Baden Württemberg, honoring his artistic work and influence on musicians worldwide.

ECM Records congratulates with the release of Eberhard’s new album "Encore" which will available with immediate effect from the ECM website. International release date will follow next month.




Eberhard Weber: Encore

Encore is a companion volume to Résumé the widely-praised solo album issued in 2011. Eberhard Weber returns once more to the many live recordings of his tenure with the Jan Garbarek Group, isolating his bass solos and reworking them into new pieces with the addition of his own keyboard parts. “I became what you might call a composer of New Music,” says Weber, “with the proviso that I make use of old things.” This season’s special guest is veteran Dutch flugelhorn player Ack van Rooyen. Van Rooyen, who played on Weber’s ECM leader date, The Colours of Chloë more than 40 years ago now adds his own subtle colours to Weber’s contemporary sound-montages. The bass solos were recorded between 1990 and 2007, in thirteen European cities, from Edinburgh to Seville, and the music was mixed and edited at Studios La Buissonne in the South of France in November 2014.

[rawac]

Today (23rd) at 20:00 MEZ (6 pm in Central Europe = noon in New York) there will be a live video stream from the first concert via internet:
http://www.swr.de/orchester-und-ensembles/bb/eberhard-weber-75/-/id=788722/nid=788722/did=14932012/ys1gkr/index.html

[Ron Thorne]

Thanks, Ralf!

I wasn't able to access the live video stream in time. Has the concert been archived? Was there only one broadcast?

[rawac]

Thanks, Ralf!

I wasn't able to access the live video stream in time.

Me too. I have a awful water damage in my kitchen and bedroom, was organizing a new kitchen, three hours planing in the carpenter shop, and then i had to do a complete reset of my internet connection, don't know why.

Has the concert been archived?

Certainly, German public television archives everything. But it is not accessible by the public, not by internet.

Was there only one broadcast?

Yes.

[Ron Thorne]

So sorry to hear about your water damage, Ralf. I hope things are better now.

Thanks for the response.

[Ron Thorne]

I want to share some photos from my friend, Danny Gottlieb, taken at the 75th birthday celebration of Eberhard Weber.





Concert poster. SWR Big Band




Backstage with Eberhard Weber and Danny Gottlieb.



Concert photo with Pat Metheny in front of orchestra. ECM Records - Photo courtesy of A.T. Cimarosti



Danny holding "guide chart for Pat's epic tribute to Eberhard Weber!"

[Ron Thorne]

Well, this certainly looks and sounds interesting.


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=edLWmyTegvk

[bluenoter]

Well, this certainly looks and sounds interesting.

[YouTube promo video for Jack DeJohnette—Made in Chicago]

That CD's U.S. release date has fluctuated wildly but now seems to have settled at March 10. Made in Chicago is one of several upcoming ECM releases that I've been planning to make fairly detailed posts about, in order of U.S. release date. Another is Eberhard Weber—Encore, which was announced in the ECM newsletter that you posted here and whose U.S. release date is looking like March 17 (rather than the announced "international" release date of sometime in February).