Modest Trio

An early outlier in the ECM catalog, Output convulses with as much lively originality as it did when it was first released. Wolfgang Dauner, perhaps better known as founder of the United Jazz + Rock Ensemble (which saw ECM greats Eberhard Weber, Kenny Wheeler, and Charlie Mariano pass through its hallowed halls), assembles a modest trio of talent for this classic 1970 studio free-for-all. The end result is humor, provocation, brilliance, and chaos all rolled into one. ~ ECMReviews

The Italian conductor Claudio Abbado is one of the most outstanding conductors of the 20th century. It was his unique ability to make sound and music shine (Deutschlandfunk Kultur), for which he was celebrated internationally by both the press and the audience. In addition to his long-standing relationship with the Berliner Philharmoniker and the Vienna Philharmonic, he has also been chief conductor of the London Symphony Orchestra for many years (1979 to 1986), with which he has recorded a rich discography over the years.

The second volume brings us more Vaňhal, his Symphony in G minor. This is a defter, more energetic and more engaging work than the one in the first volume. Solo winds have their say in the slow movement and the compositional level here is high. František Xaver Dušek was, like Vaňhal, another Bohemian who moved in Mozartian circles. Mozart played one of Vaňhal’s violin concertos and Dušek famously entertained Mozart when the younger man visited Prague for performances of Don Giovanni". Active both in Prague and Vienna Dušek turns in a Symphony of gallant confidence. The trio has a certain studied charm but a real sense of orchestral control and surety.

For a mild-mannered man whose music was always easy on the ear, Nat King Cole managed to be a figure of considerable controversy during his 30 years as a professional musician. From the late '40s to the mid-'60s, he was a massively successful pop singer who ranked with such contemporaries as Frank Sinatra, Perry Como, and Dean Martin. He shared with those peers a career that encompassed hit records, international touring, radio and television shows, and appearances in films.

For a mild-mannered man whose music was always easy on the ear, Nat King Cole managed to be a figure of considerable controversy during his 30 years as a professional musician. From the late '40s to the mid-'60s, he was a massively successful pop singer who ranked with such contemporaries as Frank Sinatra, Perry Como, and Dean Martin. He shared with those peers a career that encompassed hit records, international touring, radio and television shows, and appearances in films. But unlike them, he had not emerged from a background as a band singer in the swing era. Instead, he had spent a decade as a celebrated jazz pianist, leading his own small group. Oddly, that was one source of controversy. For some reason, there seem to be more jazz critics than fans of traditional pop among music journalists, and Cole's transition from jazz to pop during a period when jazz itself was becoming less popular was seen by them as a betrayal.