Sono Naxos Linn Ecm

Khmer is surely the most unusual album ever released by ECM — unusual because the label, which is best known for elevated chamber jazz, presents the solo debut of trumpeter Nils Petter Molvaer as a production that plays with modern electronica methods while not eschewing the well-known ECM aesthetic. Molvaer's music is somewhere between scary and majestic, and changes between ominous ambient sounds and hard breakbeats, along which atonal screeching guitars combined with melancholic melodies, create a fascinating melange.

Berlin-based DJs and composers Ricardo Villalobos and Max Loderbauer - two of the best-known names in contemporary electronica - share their admiration for music on ECM in a unique double-album of specially-created “sound-structures”. Their project “Re: ECM” will bring the label’s music to a new listenership. It is certain to be one of the most talked-about albums of the season. Using original ECM recordings as a starting point, Villalobos and Loderbauer create new music that bridges several worlds, including ECM’s world of space-conscious improvisation and composition and the worlds of ambient electronics and minimal techno.

A saxophone workout from '85 by outstanding British player John Surman. While solo sax can be extremely tiring, Surman mixes enough elements of rock, free, blues, and hard bop to keep the songs varied. His aggressive style, especially on baritone, keeps the energy level high.

“Oxymoron” – contradictory terms in conjunction – seems to be a perfectly appropriate title for a CD presenting four pieces written between 1990 and 2005 by Estonian composer Erkki-Sven Tüür for different vocal and instrumental line-ups: Tüür’s writing is characterized by juxtapositions of seemingly heterogeneous musical idioms always moulded with a rare sense of architecture and musical dramaturgy. “Oxymoron” is the fourth ECM-release dedicated exclusively to works by Erkki-Sven Tüür.

ECM made history in 1984 with the release of Tabula rasa, the first of the jazz label’s equally influential New Series. Not only did this beloved recording introduce many to the music of Arvo Pärt, but it also clarified producer Manfred Eicher’s classical roots and fed into the likeminded sensibilities Eicher was then bringing with increasing confidence to his groundbreaking approach to jazz. It is therefore appropriate that Pärt, the imprint’s shining star, should be represented here more than any other composer or performer.

First and foremost, Cat 'n' Mouse is a game among equals. The members of this quartet are each powerful musicians in their own right, and somehow they've made a treaty to serve a common cause.

"Continuum" is one of the top albums of the '80s and a leading contender for best ECM release of that decade. The sound is extraordinary as is typical with many other Manfred Eicher produced ECM recordings. Bruninghaus' compositions are catchy and his keyboard work is exquisitely tasteful.

The complete Hymns, Spheres, at last available on compact disc. Keith Jarrett’s first encounter with the Karl Joseph Riepp baroque organ of the Abbey of Ottobeuren – one of the great improvisers of the age communing with one of Europe’s most famous instruments – brought forth some truly unique music. The 1976 double LP release has long been a favourite amongst organ music aficionados as well as Jarrett’s loyal following, admired for Jarrett’s spontaneous improvisational resourcefulness, the variety of textures drawn from the instrument, and for the sheer physical power of the sound in the church, beautifully captured in the ECM recording.