Category: ECM

Steve Tibbetts :: The Aquarium Drunkard Interview

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Guitarist Steve Tibbetts is slightly younger than his fellow ECM guitar wizards Terje Rypdal or Ralph Towner; his label debut, Northern Song, didn’t arrive until 1981. A native Midwesterner, Tibbetts differs in other ways from his cosmopolitan six-(or 12-) string cohort as well, releasing albums slowly, rarely touring and mainly working with a small number of local musicians. But his enigmatic, genre-porous music, filled with electronic samples, esoteric percussion, and South Asian textures has carved out a distinct space in both ECM-land and the wider world of experimental jazz.

Close, his latest album, might be his most rewardingly mysterious yet. In conversation, Tibbetts balances consideration with openness, talking about his Buddhist practice, having lunch with Joe Boyd and Leo Kottke, working as a nurse and a record store clerk, the Grateful Dead, the wonders of fellow ECM artists and much more.

Bennie Maupin :: The Jewel In The Lotus

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Out of print on vinyl since 1977, Bennie Maupin’s solo debut, The Jewel in the Lotus, makes its welcome return to the format this month via ECM’s Luminessence reissue series. A counterpoint to the playful funk of Hancock’s Headhunters, The Jewel in the Lotus swings the pendulum well beyond Mwansishi’s heady explorations into more earthy, deeply spiritual turf.

A true headphone journey and an aural balm for a world that’s spinning a bit too fast.

Keith Jarrett: No End, Newness and the Power of the Low-Key Jam

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Keith Jarrett didn’t have to make a rock album filled with noodly guitar and muted boogie. But he did, and in its unusually obvious imperfections, eccentric choices and rambling longueurs, it shows the famously demanding pianist at his most mercurial and relaxed. In his perpetual hunt for wells of inspiration and rivers of feeling, Jarrett’s curious detour still leads to some fascinating backwaters and rewarding reservoirs.

Jakob Bro :: Taking Turns

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Recorded in 2014 but somehow only released late last year, this multi-generational session delivers ensemble playing and collective improvisation at an extraordinarily high level. Danish guitarist Jakob Bro is joined on Taking Turns by a murderer’s row of talents — Lee Konitz (alto/soprano sax), Andrew Cyrille (drums), Bill Frisell (guitar), Jason Moran (piano) and Thomas Morgan (double bass) — for seven marvelously moody pieces.

Ralph Towner :: The Aquarium Drunkard Interview

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As a member of the pioneering chamber/world/GORP jazz group Oregon, as a solo artist and leader or co-leader, guitarist/multi-instrumentalist/composer Ralph Towner has been making wide-ranging, pigeonhole-defying music for more than half a century. Speaking to Aquarium Drunkard from his home in Rome, Towner was happy to look back at a few of the many highlights of his remarkable and varied career, from including but not limited to all-night concerts in the ‘70s, an impromptu jam session with Sonny Rollins, his jazz-snob regrets, kicking Bill Evans off the piano, looking for a sex-free crash tent at Woodstock, meeting astronauts and the vicissitudes of selenography. Most importantly, he showed that, nearing his 85th birthday, his musical mind is as restless and active as ever, even if there’s still one instrument he’ll never, ever play.

Mal Waldron :: The Call

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Everybody knows that Mal Waldron was the first artist released by Manfred Eicher’s fledgling label ECM. Less well known is that the veteran pianist also had the maiden release on Eicher’s experimental jazz imprint JAPO. That album, The Call, placed Waldron right at the heart of the burgeoning krautrock scene, teaming him up with affiliates of Amon Düül, Tangerine Dream and Et Cetera. The result was tripped-out, electrified space jazz of the very highest order.

Vijay Iyer, Linda May Han OH, Tyshawn Sorey :: Compassion

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Get pianist Vijay Iyer in a trio and just see what happens. On last year’s visionary Love in Exile, he explored psychic heights and chasm-deep spaces with vocalist Arooj Aftab and bassist and electronics wizard Shahzad Ismaily. And now, “Compassion,” the lithe title track from his forthcoming ECM outing with bassist Linda May Han Oh and drummer Tyshawn Sorey.

Keith Jarrett / Jack Dejohnette :: Ruta and Daitya

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Recorded in 1971, and released two years later via ECM, Keith Jarrett’s collaboration with drummer Jack DeJohnette marks one of the last times the keyboardist would flex electric. Fresh off his two year stint behind the boards in Miles Davis’s electric band, Ruta and Daitya features seven duets produced by label head Manfred Eicher. With a palette skirting between sinuous electric funk and acoustic washes of percussion, flute and piano, the forty-one minute runtime does well to maintain a cohesive identity without feeling aesthetically schizophrenic.

ECM Records All-Star Night :: The Village Gate, New York City, January 1976

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The most beautiful sound next to silence comes to NYC. This “all-star night” of ECM-related performers is a delight, with some unique performances and collabs. Manfred Eicher’s esteemed label had been around since the late 1960s, but Keith Jarrett’s blockbuster surprise, The Koln Concert, brought ECM closer to the mainstream in 1975. Jarrett wasn’t there for this evening’s celebration, but the All-Stars shine bright without him.

Pat Metheny Group (ECM, 1978)

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Guitarist Pat Metheny recently described music as a “carrot”, “I am still figuring out what the stick is,” he concluded to Ross Simonini in The Believer. That idea of constant investigation permeates Metheny’s nearly 50 year music career as well as his first s/t LP with his Pat Metheny Group.

Robin Kenyatta :: Girl From Martinique

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Funky: the last descriptor one would ever reach for while describing an ECM record…but that’s exactly what this is! Released in 1970, Robin Kenyatta’s lone ECM effort finds the reedman employing the clavinet vamp of Wolfgang Dauner, swathes of reverb, electronics, and the rhythm section of bassist Arild Andersen and drummer Fred Braceful. Come for “Blues For Your Mama”, stick around for the rest.

John Surman :: Upon Reflection (ECM)

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Here’s something to get lost in, the hypnotic world of British reedman John Surman, courtesy of his 1979 ECM effort, Upon Reflection. Recorded in Oslo, with production helmed by Manfred Eicher, the recording finds Surman in widescreen form experimenting with sequencers and synthesizers in addition to his duties working bass clarinet and baritone/soprano saxophone.

Wolfgang Muthspiel :: Angular Blues

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There’s a particular clarity made possible by the trio format, something guitarist Wolfgang Muthspiel, bassist Scott Colley, and drummer Brian Blade make clear on Angular Blues, Muthspiel’s fourth album as bandleader for the storied ECM label. This spacious arrangement makes for magnificent listening.

And Then One Day: A Guide to the Music of Carla Bley

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On the release of Carla Bley’s new album Life Goes On, Winston Cook-Wilson provides an overview of composer, bandleader, and pianist’s multifaceted career, from her pop and funk-inflected ’70s and ’80s work to her more recent “microcosms of a musical personality that is exceptionally difficult to distill.”