Tag Archives: ECM
Book Review: Pat Metheny (The ECM Years 1975-1984) by Mervyn Cooke
You know the guy: long, bushy hair, beatific grin, jeans, sneakers, long-sleeved T-shirt, usually rhapsodizing intensely via some kind of guitar gizmo. Despite his many stylistic detours, Pat Metheny is a brand all right, and his music inspires a devotion and attendant sales profile that has rarely – if ever – been afforded to ‘jazz’ […]
Manfred Eicher awarded Royal Academy of Music Honorary Fellowship
On Monday 12th February, ECM founder and producer Manfred Eicher was presented with a Royal Academy Of Music Honorary Fellowship, an award bestowed on ‘only 100 distinguished individuals who have rendered signal service to the institution or to the music profession in general’, in the words of the RAOM’s website. After the ceremony, Eicher joined […]
Rescued From The Vaults: Terje Rypdal’s Waves
Terje Rypdal has enjoyed a very long and varied career with ECM Records. His guitar style is an in-your-face mixture of Hank Marvin-influenced wang-bar melodicism and jagged, dramatic lines that would seem more likely to come from a cello or violin. And whilst probably too much of a mysterious presence to be described as a […]
Album Review: Andrew Cyrille’s Declaration Of Musical Independence
Drummer/percussionist Andrew Cyrille has been busy mapping out his own musical territory during an illustrious career spanning over 50 years. Across a dozen solo albums and in collaboration with Cecil Taylor, Anthony Braxton, David Murray, Geri Allen and Charlie Haden, he has been one of several key players who freed the jazz drummer from the […]
Album Review: John Abercrombie’s First Quartet Box Set
For some reason (could it be the name?) American guitarist John Abercrombie has never really received the same kind of attention as his contemporaries John Scofield, Pat Metheny, Bill Frisell and Mike Stern. His career has been modest and craftsmanlike in comparison, starting out, in his words, as a ‘John McLaughlin rip-off’, playing on ‘some […]
Album Review: Konitz/Mehldau/Haden/Motian’s Live At Birdland
The ECM label has always prided itself on the sonic detail of its recordings, but the Lee Konitz/Brad Mehldau/Paul Motian/Charlie Haden Live At Birdland CD may be its most impressive technical achievement yet. Birdland is a very small jazz club in Midtown Manhattan, famous for its dry acoustics and intimate setting, yet a tantalising, almost […]
Sounds Of Surprise 