Muzica ECM Records

• Testeaza in showroom Cotroceni

1972

Chick Corea - pian electric
Joe Farrell - flaut, saxofon sopran
Flora Purim - voce, percutie
Stan Clarke - bas
Airto Moreira - tobe, percutie

Steve Huey ( AllMusicGuide ): "The legendary first lineup of Chick Corea's fusion band Return to Forever debuted on this classic album (titled after the group but credited to Corea), featuring Joe Farrell on soprano sax and flute, the Brazilian team of vocalist Flora Purim and drummer/percussionist Airto Moreira, and electric bass whiz Stanley Clarke.

It wasn't actually released in the U.S. until 1975, which was why the group's second album, Light as a Feather, initially made the Return to Forever name. Nonetheless, Return to Forever is every bit as classic, using a similar blend of spacy electric-piano fusion and Brazilian and Latin rhythms. It's all very warm, light, and airy, like a soft breeze on a tropical beach -- hardly the sort of firebrand approach to fusion that Miles Davis, Tony Williams, and the Mahavishnu Orchestra were exploring, and far less rooted in funk or rock.

• Numar discuri: 1
• Greutate Vinil: 180g

• Gen muzica: Jazz
• Tip Album: VINIL

1974
John Abercrombie - chitara
Jan Hammer - orga, sintetizatoare, pian
Jack DeJohnette - tobe

This evergreen stands tall in the ECM forest. There is no sense of competition, only mutual reveling in a distinctly nuclear sound. One could easily call it fusion, but if anything it is fused with itself, for it has created every element it seeks to combine. Timeless indeed.

• Numar discuri: 1
• Greutate Vinil: 180g

• Gen muzica: Jazz
• Tip Album: VINIL

1989

Keith Jarrett - pian
Gary Peacock - bas
Jack DeJohnette - tobe

AllMusic: "The Keith Jarrett Standards Trio gets back down to business with two CDs' worth of familiar and perhaps not-so-familiar tunes, recorded in one evening in Cologne, Germany. There is a concept this time, for all the standards carry a dedication to some jazz man or woman who performed them -- and they are not predictable choices; Lee Konitz for "Lover Man," "It's Easy to Remember" for John Coltrane, "All of You" for Miles Davis, etc.

Almost every number has a reflective solo piano introduction, with one of the notable exceptions being Jarrett's rolling, convoluted opening variations on "All the Things You Are" (Sonny Rollins). "Solar" (the Bill Evans tribute) has challenging, fractured interplay between Jarrett, Jack DeJohnette and Gary Peacock, and it directly segues into Jarrett's own obsessive "Sun Prayer," which seems to lose its way after a fine start.

• Numar discuri: 2
• Greutate Vinil: 180g

• Gen muzica: Jazz
• Tip Album: VINIL

1993
Jan Garbarek - saxofon tenor si sopran
The Hilliard Ensemble:
David James - contratenor
Rogers Covey-Crump - tenor
John Potter - tenor
Gordon Jones - bariton

Recorded in a heavily reverberant Austrian monastery, the voices sometimes develop in overwhelming waves, and Garbarek rides their crest, his soprano sax soaring in the monastery acoustic, or he underscores the voices almost unobtrusively, echoing the voices, finding ample room to move around the modal harmonies yet applying his sound sparingly.

Those with nervous metabolisms may become impatient with this undefinable music, but if you give it a chance, it will seduce you, too. [ AllMusic ]

"Officium is what Coltrane hears in heaven."

• Numar discuri: 2
• Greutate Vinil: 180g

• Gen muzica: Contemporana
• Tip Album: VINIL

1981

Ralph Towner - chitara clasica, double-six
John Abercrombie - chitara acustica, , electrica, mandolina electrica

John Abercrombie is unique among guitarists in that whenever he becomes enraptured his sound becomes neither louder nor more pronounced but becomes somehow mysterious, liberated. Ralph Towner, on the other hand, revels in the crackling ruptures that so characterize his playing. Yet these roles seem reversed in this follow-up to the duo’s Sargasso Sea. A far more fragile carnation than its predecessor, it seems to forego the usual bag of tricks in favor of something more, as the album’s title would imply, reflective. This is especially apparent in the three improvisations with which the set list is dotted, and nowhere more so than in “Late Night Passenger,” where Abercrombie’s laddered filaments provide stunning berth for the other’s muted, jangling starlight. [ ecmreviews ]

• Numar discuri: 1
• Greutate Vinil: 180g

• Gen muzica: Jazz
• Tip Album: VINIL

1978

Pat Metheny - chitara
Lyle Mays - pian, claviaturi
Mark Egan - bas
Dan Gottlieb - tobe

AllAboutJazz:
"This album stands out abit from the others I've reviewed here so far (for a number of reasons). I've been a Metheny fan for half of my life, but had never thought of his work as groove oriented (except for the relatively recent commercially-successful release). But, I was wrong. I recently became more attuned to grooves through a playing experience and it opened my ears to hearing grooves better. When I put this album on recently after a long time since I had listened to it, I was amazed. All of a sudden, I hear the groove. Not that this is incredibly funky stuff—I wouldn't go so far as to call Metheny's work funky- but the pocket is there.

• Numar discuri: 1
• Greutate Vinil: 180g

• Gen muzica: Jazz
• Tip Album: VINIL

1990-1991
Paul Giger - vioara
Jan Garbarek - saxofon tenor si sopran
Pierre Favre - percutie

"Violin virtuoso Paul Giger revisits his roots with this, his second solo recording, Alpstein, which features pieces for violin, saxophone, and percussion based on the folk traditions of the Alpstein region of Switzerland. Three pieces here are entitled "Zäuerli" -- named after the sad majestic "natur yodel" tradition of the Outer Rhoden region. These are sweeping and majestic with high harmonic bowstrokes. This recording features the saxophone work of Jan Garbarek and the percussion of Pierre Favre. Both add an incredible warmth to the recording on the pieces they are featured on, most notably "Alpsegen" with its soaring sax lines and manic percussion. Also notable is "Chlauseschuppel," featuring the sounds of cowbells specific to that region. Informative booklet included." [ AllMusic ]

• Numar discuri: 1
• Greutate Vinil: Normal

• Gen muzica: Contemporana
• Tip Album: VINIL

2018
Nik Bartsch - pian
Sha - bas clarinet, saxofon alto
Thomy Jordi - bas
Kaspar Rast - tobe

Bärtsch speaks of a new-found freedom and flexibility in the approach to the material, with “greater transparency, more interaction, more joy in every performance”. The freedom here extends to revisiting earlier Bärtsch modules alongside new compositions including, for the first time on a Ronin record, a piece by reedman Sha. “We’ve spent a long time working on the new repertoire, really checking out and fine tuning all the details.”

Awase, a term from Aikido, means “moving together” in the sense of matching energies, a fitting metaphor for the dynamic precision, tessellated grooves and balletic minimalism of Ronin today. In the old band, Bärtsch often chose to present Björn Meyer’s flamboyant 6-string bass as a lead instrument. Thomy Jordi’s 4-string bass guitar tends to be deployed within the fabric of the pieces, creatively fulfilling a more traditional bass function and locking in with Kaspar Rast’s powerful drums. With Bärtsch also scaling back his own solo playing, listeners are encouraged to hear the whole music and its layered, shifting approach to interaction in new ways.

• Numar discuri: 2
• Greutate Vinil: 180g

• Gen muzica: Jazz
• Tip Album: VINIL

1974

Keith Jarrett - pian
Jan Garbarek - saxofon sopran si tenor
Palle Danielsson - bas
Jon Christensen - tobe

AllMusic: "On Keith Jarrett's first recording with his "European" quartet -- Jan Garbarek (sax), Palle Danielsson (bass), Jon Christensen (drums) -- he stakes out somewhat less abrasive territory than that which his "American" foursome was exploring at this time.

Garbarek sports a neutral, vibratoless tone that occasionally reaches an emotional climax; the rhythm section is supportive and just loose enough. The record operates at its strongest level when Jarrett locks the quartet into his winning gospel mode on "'Long as You Know You're Living Yours" and the tense drive of "Spiral Dance"; the reflective numbers are less compelling. Still, this LP-turned-CD successfully bucked the powerful electric trends of its time and holds up well today."

• Numar discuri: 1
• Greutate Vinil: 180g

• Gen muzica: Jazz
• Tip Album: VINIL

• Numar discuri: 1
• Greutate Vinil: Normal

• Gen muzica: Jazz
• Tip Album: VINIL

‘Blue Maqams’ will not only go down as one of the year's best ECM Records releases; it's a classic-in-the-making that should ultimately be considered one of the label's very best recordings in its nearly fifty-year history. [ John Kelman, All About Jazz ]

• Numar discuri: 2
• Greutate Vinil: 180g

• Gen muzica: Jazz
• Tip Album: VINIL

2018

Thomas Stronen - tobe
Ayumi Tanaka - pian
Hakon Aase - vioara
Lucy Railton - violoncel
Ole Morten Vagan - contrabas

Norwegian drummer/composer Thomas Strønen presents a revised edition of his acoustic collective Time Is A Blind Guide, now trimmed to quintet size, and with a new pianist in Wakayama-born Ayumi Tanaka.

• Numar discuri: 1
• Greutate Vinil: 180g

• Gen muzica: Jazz
• Tip Album: VINIL

1977

Terje Rypdal - electric guitar, keyboard, synthesizer
Palle Mikkelborg - trumpet, fluegelhorn, RMI, tac piano, ring modulator
Sveinung Hovensjo - basses
Jon Christensen - drums, percussion

Terje Rypdal’s Waves (recorded 1977) announced the beginning of the Norwegian guitarist’s association with Danish trumpeter Palle Mikkelborg, which continues to this day. The album also introduced one of Terje’s most enduringly popular pieces, “Per Ulv.” “Rypdal’s album is a series of sonic excursions ranging from the expressionist to the impressionist…” wrote Record World. “Rypdal’s guitar and Mikkelborg’s trumpet are well-matched, with Manfred Eicher’s typically superb production putting it all in focus.”

Initially published in January 1978, vinyl is reissued in October 2016 as audiophile pressing taken from the original analog tapes.

• Numar discuri: 1
• Greutate Vinil: 180g

• Gen muzica: Jazz
• Tip Album: VINIL

1982.

Pat Metheny - chitara acustica si electrica
Lyle Mays - pian, sintetizatoare, Synclavier
Steve Rodby - bas
Dan Gottlieb - tobe
Nana Vasconcelos - percutie, voce, berimbau

AllMusicGuide: "Now well into its gliding Brazilian-tinged mode, the Pat Metheny Group hits the road, as this two-CD set catches the band live in Dallas, Philadelphia, Hartford, Sacramento, and Nacogdoches, TX.

Percussionist Nana Vasconcelos is still listed as a "special guest," but ever since Wichita Falls, he had not only been a part of the group, he was the transforming element in the Metheny "sound," adding his various shakers, effects and ethereal vocals.

• Numar discuri: 2
• Greutate Vinil: 180g

• Gen muzica: Jazz
• Tip Album: VINIL

Pentru prima data pe vinil !

Manu Katche - tobe
Tomasz Stanko - trompeta
Jan Garbarek - saxofon tenor
Marcin Wasilewski - pian
Slawomir Kurkiewicz - contrabas

Ruminative, soulful and always melodic, this is cool jazz with a fiery heart.[ John Bungey, The Times ]

• Numar discuri: 1
• Greutate Vinil: Normal

• Gen muzica: Jazz
• Tip Album: VINIL

1980

Pat Metheny - chitara acustica si electrica
Charlie Haden - contrabas
Jack DeJohnette - tobe
Dewey Redman - saxofon tenor
Michael Brecker - saxofon tenor

AllMusicGuide : "Pat Metheny's credibility with the jazz community went way up with the release of this package, a superb two-CD collaboration with a quartet of outstanding jazz musicians that dared to be uncompromising at a time when most artists would have merely continued pursuing their electric commercial successes. [...]

The two original LPs were organized so that the more distinctive Metheny fusions were on sides one and four and the overt jazz tracks occupied sides two and three."

• Numar discuri: 2
• Greutate Vinil: 180g

• Gen muzica: Jazz
• Tip Album: VINIL

1998

Keith Jarrett - pian

ecmreviews:
"The Melody At Night, With You was my first Keith Jarrett solo album. And perhaps it was in a way for Jarrett, too. It interprets some of the greatest names in the American songbook—Duke Ellington, the Gershwins, Oscar Hammerstein and Jerome Kern, Oscar Levant, among others—yet tells their stories as if we’ve never heard them before. More than just another standards album in absence of his trio, this is the pianist at his purest. He approaches the music as a composer approaches a blank staff: which is to say, with wonder.

• Numar discuri: 1
• Greutate Vinil: 180g

• Gen muzica: Jazz
• Tip Album: VINIL

Luminessence, ECM’s new audiophile vinyl-reissue - cut from the original analog master tapes

• Numar discuri: 1
• Greutate Vinil: 180g

• Gen muzica: Jazz
• Tip Album: VINIL

2018

Shai Maestro - pian
Jorge Roeder - contrabas
Ofri Nehemya - tobe

The first ECM leader date for Shai Maestro (following his label debut with Theo Bleckmann on Elegy) features the gifted pianist fronting his superlative trio with fellow Israeli Ofri Nehemya on drums and Peruvian bassist Jorge Roeder, and also playing alone. A solo interpretation of Matti Caspi’s “My Second Childhood” opens the curtain on a programme of characteristically thoughtful Maestro originals, each one with a story to tell. “Hearing the Shai Maestro Trio is like awakening to a new world”, All About Jazz has suggested.

• Numar discuri: 1
• Greutate Vinil: 180g

• Gen muzica: Jazz
• Tip Album: VINIL

1986

Kim Kashkashian - viola
Robert Levin - pian

Simply overflowing with musical brilliance, it remains one of the finest examples of what the viola is capable of. Kim Kashkashian’s technique and passion are almost palpable and one can only marvel at the humble respect she brings to both. The viola doesn’t simply exist somewhere between violin and cello, forever doomed to be second rate to both. It is, rather, an utterly dynamic and rich musical object, and the ways in which Hindemith unravels its subtler intonations in these sonatas is nothing short of monumental. Every chapter tells us something new, until the linguistic possibilities of the music represented in this eclectic set are exhausted. [ ecmreviews ]

• Numar discuri: 3
• Greutate Vinil: Normal

• Gen muzica: Contemporana
• Tip Album: VINIL