Cathy Swain Bates

„In this new album, Cathy Krier takes an original step and goes entirely against the grain of her previous programmatic approach. In her two most recent CDs she had juxtaposed the apparently divergent styles of Rameau and Ligeti, or Liszt vs. Berg/Schoenberg, uncovering astounding new connections among them. The current release now takes the opposite path. At first glance, Claude Debussy – the inventor of musical Impressionism – and Karol Szymanowski – often called the ‘Polish Impressionist’ – would seem to have much in common.

Frontman Billy Miscione met drummer Tyler Katz at a local music show at the age of 17. Acknowledging their chemistry, the two became best friends, and would play in various projects with each other until meeting guitarist Craig Browning, and Mark Perkinz at SUNY Purchase. By fate, they would meet Patrick Devir at a music show in Connecticut a few years later, adding the final piece to form BATES. Craig's grungy ambient leads, Patrick’s powerful chords, and Mark's driving punk bass fused with Billy's blues guitar create a unique yet familiar rock sound. The five of them have played shows all over Westchester County, NY, New York City, and Connecticut, performing at notable venues such as Garcia’s (Portchester, NY), Toad’s Place (New Haven, CT), and The Bitter End (NYC). BATES released their self-titled debut album on June 9th, 2018. It is currently available on Spotify, iTunes, YouTube, Bandcamp, and more.

Named by Musical America as the 2018 'Composer of the Year', Grammy-winning composer Mason Bates is widely renowned for his pioneering practice of creating music for conventional performing forces enhanced by electronic sounds. Of the two works presented in this remarkable album, Mass Transmission—in its world premiere recording—is a particularly winning example of Bates’ use of 'electronica', blended here with music for mixed choir and organ. Sirens, lacking electronica, still achieves mesmerizing vocal effects through its complex scoring for 12-part a cappella choir.

"A volume of recipes to help Cathy's female fans cope with real-life maddening males" from the Emmy Award-winning cartoonist (Booklist).

British pianist Django Bates returns to ECM with one of his very finest constellations, the trio Belovèd, with Swedish bassist Petter Eldh and Danish drummer Peter Bruun, and an aptly named album, "The Study of Touch". All three musicians are highly individual players, subtly challenging the conventions of the jazz piano trio.