Paul Bley

Bill Frisell has made 14 sideman appearances on ECM but only three records as a leader on the label. His Rarum collection spans the 1980s, highlighting his earlier years. Paul Motian figures prominently in this story, as leader, composer, and sideman; "Mandeville," the leadoff track, is from 1981's Psalm, featuring Motian and Frisell with Joe Lovano, Billy Drewes, and Ed Schuller. Two more Motian tracks follow, then Jan Garbarek's "Singsong," which finds Frisell wailing. Tracks five through 11 feature Frisell as leader and composer: First there's the title cut from his 1982 debut, In Line, a multi-tracked acoustic piece, then three selections from Rambler and three more from Lookout for Hope.

The rhapsody of the vocal tracks is matched by the more private dialogues of the instrumentals. Demanding but rewarding, this is an essential Konitz album.

A Long Story is Anat Fort's debut release on ECM, and is comprised entirely of her original compositions, with one joint effort between Fort and Perry Robinson. From the very first track, the standard-in-the-making "Just Now Var. I," Fort's attractively melodic and Eastern-flavored jazz writing is apparent and ECM's storied history of piano-led groups (think Keith Jarrett, Bobo Stenson, and Tord Gustavsen) continues with the addition of this fine quartet. The "sidemen" on A Long Story are three well-known jazz veterans, led by the great Paul Motian on drums. Perry Robinson makes his ECM debut here and Ed Schuller rounds out the group on double-bass.

After critically-lauded projects with trumpeter Paolo Fresu (Chiaroscuro) and with fellow guitarists Wolfgang Muthspiel and Slava Grigoryan (Travel Guide), Ralph Towner returns to solo guitar for My Foolish Heart. Whether on classical guitar or 12-string guitar Towner’s touch is immediately identifiable. Solo music is an important thread through his rich discography and this new album – recorded at Lugano’s Auditorio Stelio Molo RSI in February 2016 and produced by Manfred Eicher – follows in the great tradition of Diary, Solo Concert, Ana, Anthem, and Time Line. It features finely-honed new compositions as well as a pair of tunes (“Shard” and “Rewind”) from the songbook of Oregon, a dedication to the late Paul Bley (“Blue As In Bley”) and a single standard – Victor Young’s “My Foolish Heart” which Towner first came to love in Bill Evans’s interpretation.

Marion Brown - Geechee Recollections & Sweet Earth Flying (1973-74) {2011 Impulse! 2-on-1 Remaster}
EAC Rip | FLAC (tracks+.cue+log) - 468 MB | Scans JPG - 21 MB | MP3 CBR 320 kbps (LAME 3.98) - 190 MB
Genre: jazz | RAR 5% Rec. | Label: Impulse! / Verve | CAT # 06025 2780943 | 2011

Amazing work from Marion Brown – two albums we'd never be without! Geechee Recollections is quite possibly our favorite record ever from reedman Brown – and very different than both his seminal 60s recordings, and his European sides from later years! There's a really earthy feel to this record – one that really lives up to the title, and which comes from the use of lots of percussion, played by just about every group member, ala AACM – but handled in a style that's warmly spiritual, and very organic too – right in line with the best Impulse Records vibe of the time, yet completely its own thing too! Brown plays alto and soprano sax, and is working with players who include Leo Smith on trumpet, William Malone on mbira and autoharp, James Jefferson on bass, and Steve McCall, Jumma Santos, Bill Hasson, and A Kobena Adzenyah on percussion – in addition to percussion plays by other group members too.

Masabumi Kikuchi, Masahiko Togashi, Gary Peacock - Poesy (1971) {2015 Japan We Remember Poo Complete Series} [CD5of8]
EAC rip (secure mode) | FLAC (tracks)+CUE+LOG -> 296 Mb | MP3 @320 -> 107 Mb
Full Artwork @ 600 dpi (png) -> 216 Mb | 5% repair rar
© 1971, 2015 Philips / Universal Japan | UCCJ-9207
Jazz / Post Bop / Avant-Garde Jazz / Modern Free / Piano / Percussions

A set that definitely lives up to the poetry promised in its title – with none of the too-clean sounds you might guess from its hand-washing reference either! The album's one of the freest, most organic sessions we've heard from pianist Masabumi Kikuchi – almost improvised at points, but with a poetic cohesion in the piano lines that's really great – kind of an offbeat sense of lyricism that points in the same directions that Steve Kuhn or Keith Jarrett were heading in the late 60s. Drummer Masahiko Togashi plays lots of cool percussion and even a bit of gong – and Gary Peacock's bass here is as great as on any of his other excellent Japanese recordings. Titles include "Dreams", "The Trap", "The Milky Way", "Apple", "Get Magic Again", and "End".

Jimmy Giuffre - Jimmy Giuffre 3, 1961 {2CD ECM 1438/39 rel 1992}
EAC rip (secure mode) | FLAC (tracks)+CUE+LOG -> 379 Mb | MP3 @320 -> 215 Mb
Full Artwork @ 300 dpi (jpg) -> 37 Mb | 5% repair rar
© 1961, 1992 ECM Records | ECM 1438/39
Jazz / West Coast Jazz / Modal Music / Third Stream / Clarinet

This reissue of Fusion and Thesis, the two albums the new Jimmy Giuffre 3 made in 1961, prior to their breakthrough and breakup in 1962, is nothing short of a revelation musically. Originally produced by Creed Taylor, who was still respectable back then, the two LPs have been complete remixed and remastered by ECM proprietor and chief producer Manfred Eicher and Jean Philippe Allard and contain complete material from both sessions resulting in one new track on Fusion and three more on Thesis.