Three new ECM reissues of interest.

DaveBeny · #1 09-20-2005, 03:43 AM

All available for the first time on CD I believe, and all are definitely worth picking up:

Steve Kuhn - 'Trance'. A trio with Steve Swallow and Jack DeJohnette.

Julian Priester - 'Love, Love'. A continuation of the 'Mwandishi' band's sound.

Dave Holland/Barre Phillips - 'Music from Two Basses'. Mostly free-form playing. Dave is still credited as David Holland on the cover. It's one of the earliest ECM recordings I think.

The Owl · #2 09-20-2005, 08:06 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by David Benyahia

All available for the first time on CD I believe, and all are definitely worth picking up:

Steve Kuhn - 'Trance'. A trio with Steve Swallow and Jack DeJohnette.

Julian Priester - 'Love, Love'. A continuation of the 'Mwandishi' band's sound.

Dave Holland/Barre Phillips - 'Music from Two Basses'. Mostly free-form playing. Dave is still credited as David Holland on the cover. It's one of the earliest ECM recordings I think.

This is GREAT news!!!! That Steve Kuhn album (especially the itle cut) is VERY haunting!

Richard Lindsey · #3 09-20-2005, 10:01 AM

I'll have to look for that Kuhn record--he's a massively uderrated guy IMO.

One ECM record I wish they'd rerelease in a domestic (i.e., cheaper) version is Ralph Towner's "Batik," with Eddie Gomez and Jack DeJohnette.

The Owl · #4 09-20-2005, 10:17 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Richard Lindsey

I'll have to look for that Kuhn record--he's a massively uderrated guy IMO.

One ECM record I wish they'd rerelease in a domestic (i.e., cheaper) version is Ralph Towner's "Batik," with Eddie Gomez and Jack DeJohnette.

Definitely a CLASSIC!!

Another one that should be reissued on CD is "Everyman Band" featuring David Torn, VERY adventurous stuff!

emjazz · #5 09-20-2005, 12:02 PM

You know, I always see you guys' names when there's great music to be had. Great to have you around. I'll be sure to check out these discs.

Against Will · #6 09-20-2005, 12:25 PM

The only ECM release I have is "In Full Cry" by the Joe Maneri Quartet, which I love to death. I also had a Dave Holland album on ECM that, while the playing was fantastic, otherwise left me unmoved.

Any other albums you guys would recommend picking up? I wanted to get a few directly from the ECM website, but 17 quid plus overseas shipping was too rich for me right now.

brianrost · #7 09-20-2005, 12:35 PM

I've gotten the Holland/Phillips and Priester CDs already.

I was disappointed in the Priester on first listen, nothing grabbed my ear that much, it's more spacey than funky. Sounds like there was a lot of overdubbing going on.

The H/P one....wow. Been looking for this one for YEARS. It's definitely OUT stuff. If you need strong tonality in your music, skip it. Interesting how Dave "came back" from the real avant stuff when he founded his first quintet (83? 84? interesting...J. Priester was in it) to make music that is still very innovative but more grounded in tonality.

I should look out for the Kuhn...saw him with Sheila Jordan, Harvie S. and Bob Moses a few years ago and was very impressed.

The Owl · #8 09-20-2005, 01:29 PM

Some other ECM favorites of mine:

Terje Rypdal - Whenever I Seem To Be Far Away

Bill Connors - Swimming With A Hole In My Body

Eberhard Weber - Yellow Fields

Steve Swallow - Home

Pat Metheny - Bright Size Life

Ralph Towner - Solstice, Solo Concert, Blue Sun, Old Firends/New Firends

Gateway - Gateway, Gateway II

Colin Walcott - Cloud Dance

**baba** · #9 09-20-2005, 01:58 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Against Will

Any other albums you guys would recommend picking up? I wanted to get a few directly from the ECM website, but 17 quid plus overseas shipping was too rich for me right now.

Ralph Towner - Solstice

This album completely changes my mood....it's like Zoloft for the ears.

Richard Lindsey · #10 09-20-2005, 02:32 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Against Will

Any other albums you guys would recommend picking up? I wanted to get a few directly from the ECM website, but 17 quid plus overseas shipping was too rich for me right now.

Old and New Dreams, "Playing" (Ornette Coleman alumni, but pretty accessible); this is a live record and features some beautiful drumming by the late Ed Blackwell, who was the first drummer I ever heard who ever brought me to the edge of my seat with a drum solo, not for the technique or the volume but for the sheer musicality and, yes, melodicism

Lots of early Pat Metheny

There are several duet records Gary Burton played on, including a couple with Chick Corea and at least one with Ralph Towner; can't remember the titles, but IMO Burton is still underrated

DaveBeny · #11 09-21-2005, 02:36 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Against Will

Any other albums you guys would recommend picking up? I wanted to get a few directly from the ECM website, but 17 quid plus overseas shipping was too rich for me right now.

You might want to try to start off with some of the ':rarum' compilation discs (picked by the artists themselves).

Otherwise, here's a few ECM titles off the top of my head that I can recommend:

Keith Jarrett: 'My Song', 'The Koln Concert'

Kenny Wheeler: 'Music for Small and Large Ensembles', 'Angel Song'

John Taylor: 'Rosslyn'

Steve Swallow: 'Always Pack Your Uniform on Top'

Gateway: 'Gateway', 'Homecoming'

John Abercrombie: 'Cat n' Mouse'

Dave Holland: 'Prime Directive', 'Conference of the Birds'

John Surman/Jack DeJohnette: 'Invisible Nature'

Charles Lloyd: 'Voice in the Night', 'Which Way is East'

Gary Burton/Steve Swallow: 'Hotel Hello'

Gary Burton/Chick Corea: 'Crystal Silence'

DaveBeny · #12 10-09-2005, 03:12 AM

Just had to bump this thread to say how much I'm loving the Kuhn disc - it is getting a lot of airplay in my house!

Soundclips at: http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg...music&n=507846

For those who hate Swallow's tone, he's playing his old Gibson or Fender bass, so you've nothing to worry about1

Here's an extract from the review in the UK's 'Guardian' newspaper:
Kuhn plays both straight piano and Fender Rhodes on this set, in the company of Steve Swallow on bass guitar, Jack DeJohnette on drums, and Susan Evans on percussion. Evans was playing drums for the band of her illustrious namesake Gil Evans at around the same time, and former Miles Davis player DeJohnette and bassist Swallow had recently worked with sax star Stan Getz, so everybody in Kuhn's Trance group was hitting the ground running, and from plenty of different directions. The wittily wistful Bley feel is apparent from the opening title track, with its rolling-mist theme unfolding over Swallow's almost sinister repeating bass figure, and intensifying against woody clacks and rattles from the percussion.
The Fender Rhodes takes over for the uptempo A Change of Face, careering over DeJohnette's whiplash drumming and Swallow's fast walk, before the feel turns ethereal and abstract for two episodes of loose and thrashy free-playing.

But Kuhn holds the balance between structured and free-falling music well, both across the programme and within the same pieces.

Though Something Everywhere has that gracefully grooving Chick Corea fusion feel at first (Kuhn is back at the Fender on it) Kuhn's bold phrasing keeps twisting away from expected payoffs, and DeJohnette and Evans build a percussion monsoon that drives the pianist to ever more urgent extremes. A remorseless Paul Bley-like clarity negotiates the lurching rhythm changes on The Young Blade (the whole band forms a tumultuous collective presence here), and Kuhn the atmospheric, darkly romantic composer glows in the tidal washes of Life's Backward Glance, following a short and only marginally necessary vocal narration. A personal, driven performer evolving outside any obvious stylistic box, Kuhn has always been a hard man to market. But the welcome return of this set is not a bad way to get familiar with him.