mararavenh2o

Aug 27, 20186 min read

ECM Records - A Raven's View

The Man, The Music, The Image …

Manfred Eichler was well schooled in classical music, but he knew he loved Jazz. By 1969 he founded ECM with borrowed money ($4000) and made the first four ECM recordings. For a label that has lasted as long as it has and still appears perfectly-formed, ECM Records began without any master plan in place. "I just kept making records, without a plan or anything. I found out that I was a good listener, or so people told me. And that's how I became a record producer." Later, however, Eicher was rightly hailed as a visionary for the way that his label had helped shape and influence the trajectory of European post-bop jazz in the final three decades of the 20th Century and further into the 21st.

listen to a few of his very first recordings

Mal Waldron Trio

Alfred Harth's Just Music

Marion Brown

ECM = Edition Of Contemporary Music

Eicher as founder and producer -

Manfred Eicher’s beliefs are pure and simple …he once said “I believe the producer’s role is to capture the music he likes, to present it to those who don’t know it yet.” … and this quoted also ... "Sound is about organizing emotions in time—that is music. I never impose a sound on music. Rather, music requires a particular sound. In this sense, music has no location; it is a product of artistic inspiration and poetic expression."

As a producer, Eicher sees preparation as paramount, working with the musicians themselves, reading the scores (if there are any), and thinking through phrasing, timbre, color, and other aesthetic choices, while also setting a mood in the recording studio. Hence, Eicher sees himself first as a listener, well before the music is ever recorded. Not everyone appreciates the ECM aesthetic, but to his critics Eicher says, "What you hear is the sound that we like. Some critics, none of whom have attended a Session, don't realize that we work with the performers as partners all the way through the mixing and editing process. Recording is teamwork."

a few of the Blue Raven’s favorite collaborators’ ...

Sull Lull · Jan Garbarek · Anouar Brahem · Ustad Shaukat Hussain

India - Jack DeJohnette

Back-Woods Song - Abercrombie, Holland, Dejohnette

Ethereggae - John Abercrombie

'Improvisations For Cello And Guitar' (January 1971) - Derek Bailey & Dave Holland

Eberhard Weber* - bass, Charlie Mariano - soprano saxophone, shehnai, nagaswaram; Rainer Brüninghaus - piano, synthesizer, Jon Christensen - drums

A Dark Spell - Eberhard Weber *

*Eberhard Weber born 22 January 1940 in Stuttgart is a German double bassist and composer. As a bass player, he is known for his highly distinctive tone and phrasing. Weber's compositions blend chamber jazz, European classical music, minimalism and ambient music, and are regarded as characteristic examples of the ECM Records sound.

Just a quick glance at the artwork of any ECM release (in its catalogue of 1,600 albums) will tell you a lot about the recording artist as well as the record label. That’s because ECM Records doesn’t do anything in an arbitrary or disingenuous way – every aspect of the label’s releases, from the elegance of their high-quality cover art to the concept behind the unique music that they represent, reflects a unified, holistic, aesthetic vision. While ECM is best known for jazz music, the label has released a variety of recordings, and ECM's artists often refuse to acknowledge boundaries between genres. ECM's motto is "the Most Beautiful Sound Next to Silence", according to a 1971 review of ECM releases in CODA, a Canadian jazz magazine. When it comes to the intersection of art and music, one of his favorite quotations comes from Gertrude Stein: “Think of your ears as eyes.” That helps clarify ECM’s artistic concerns, and applies especially to how the cover of Bach’s “Das Wohltemperierte Clavier” by András Schiff came about.

ECM – developed a strong sound and EMC Style (Third Stream)

The basic ECM style started in the mid-1970s and was fully established in the 1980s. During the years following it has refined its language and increased the range of non-jazz influences in order to emphasize its meditative and relaxing qualities. With help of such qualities ECM style has gradually gained some mainstream following. Currently the genre has found home among many Scandinavian jazzmen and what is sometimes referred to as "Scandinavian jazz" is basically the ECM style jazz. Among the more contemporary artists representing this genre are Arve Henriksen and Nik Bärtsch.

Witchi-Tai-To - Jan Garbarek

Koln - Keith Jarret ( The Köln Concert),

Sand - Ralph Towner (with Solstice)

Later That Evening - Eberhard Weber

Final Meeting - Miroslav Vitous

Their approach is usually described as "ascetic", "restrained" or "meditative" and their playing can be characterized by long, slow-pacing gestures that are preferred to displays of virtuosity, usage of silence, subdued expressivity and attention to "spatial" organization in music. They approach their instruments in more traditional way compared to free jazz, not pushing them to their expressive limits. ECM style jazz is tonal, although it doesn't operate with instantly recognizable melodies, it is often quite static and close to Impressionism in its treatment of textures and atmospheres. Rhythmically the music is straight (often in straight eight-notes) and doesn't have the "swing" feel that's common to majority of jazz. The adjectives usually associated with ECM style are "dreamy", "ethereal", "icy", etc. This particular style has been fortified by ECM Records founder and producer Manfred Eicher, who approached the sound engineering with clarity and detail usually associated with recordings of classical music. These recognizable sound engineering qualities are usually referred to as "ECM sound".

ECM – New Series

The ECM New Series has become a platform for recordings of composed music that ranges

from the pre-Baroque era to the present day. Launched in 1984, the subsidiary also showcases movie soundtracks, and works by rising modern composers.

The label's distinguished performers include Kim Kashkashian, András Schiff, Gidon Kremer as well as The Hilliard Ensemble.

Kim Kashkashian

Mansurian: Tagh For The Funeral Of The Lord · Kim Kashkashian · Robyn Schulkowsky

"Wanderer-Fantasie" András Schiff - Schubert: Fantasia for Piano in C, D.760 (Op.15)

Anonymous: Sanctus - Gidon Kremer

Kissine: Barcarola · Gidon Kremer · Kremerata Baltica · Andrei Pushkarev

The Hilliard Ensemble

Proving that ECM is a label whose artists and repertoire transcends musical, geographical,

and cultural borders, Eicher also branched out into the more rarified realm of classical music both contemporary and vintage, from John Cage and Steve Reich to JS Bach and John Dowland with the ECM New Series imprint.

Steve Reich:

John Cage:

Experiences #2

Four Little Paws

John Dowland:

Soundtracks:

Sounds and Silence: Travels With Manfred Eicher (DVD)

Music for the Film Sounds and Silence (CD)

Not content with that, ECM has also recorded musicians from beyond the borders of Europe and America including Tunisian oud player Anouar Brahem and Iranian kamancheh maestro Kayhan Kalhor and has long championed free jazz by recording the likes of Roscoe Mitchell and Evan Parker.

Ronda - Anouar Brahem:

Improbable Day · Anouar Brahem · Orchestra della Svizzera Italiana · Pietro Mianiti

Part 1 The Wind - Kayhan Kalhor

Dancing in the Canyon - Roscoe Mitchell

Leola

Prelude To A Rose

Untitled #1 - Evan Parker

Clawback - Evan Parker

Dragon Path - Evan Parker

Ravens love shiny things … Record label of the year awards

Down Beat: 1980, 2008–2010, 2012–2017
Jazz Journalists Association: 2007, 2012–2014
MIDEM: 2005, 2007
JazzWeek: 2011
JazzTimes: 2013

Final thoughts …

Much more than a record label, ECM is a cultural touchstone which has stayed true to Manfred Eicher’s original vision. The fact that it has never compromised its core values explains for its amazing longevity. And that is also undeniably part of the reason why ECM Records continues to thrive today, almost half a century after Mal Waldron’s Free At Last LP brought the ECM name to the public for the very first time. ECM Records continues to flourish and enjoy the unique place it occupies as an independent, taste-making, life-altering jazz label. A new global digital licensing agreement with Universal Music Group is set to potentially help it reach an even bigger audience than ever before. It went into effect on November 17, 2017.

here you can find a list of albums ...

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_ECM_Records_albums

here you find a list of artists

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Category:ECM_Records_artists

Please enjoy the rest of The Blue Raven ECM playlist ...

Booker T & the MG's - Melting Pot (Genre - Funk)

Al Jackson (drums), Steve Cropper, Donald “Duck” Dunn (Bass), Booker T. Jones

Nils Petter Molvaer's Khmer (1997)

Khmer

Jon Balke's superb century and culture spanning Siwan (2009)

electro-acoustic improv (Food's Quiet Inlet)

Becalmed

Fathom

Cirrina

Keith Jarrett's long overdue reunion with bassist Charlie Haden, Jasmine

Where can I go without you ...

minimalism- informed Zen funk (Llyrìa, from pianist Nik Bärtsch's Ronin)

LLYRIA Modul 47 BLUE VERSION

Modul 41_17 · Nik Bärtsch's Ronin

the secular and spiritual with Norwegian trumpeter/vocalist Per Jorgensen's collaboration with Finnish pianist Samuli Mikkonen and drummer Markku Ounaskari

Polychronion - Kuára: Psalms and Folk Songs