Ecm Catherine

This collection brings together three much sought-after recordings by Steve Kuhn: the solo piano album “Ecstasy” (recorded 1974), and two quartet albums. “Motility” (1977) features the band of the same name with saxophonist Steve Slagle in the front line, while “Playground” (1979) is the album that introduced the Steve Kuhn-Sheila Jordan Quartet. Singer Jordan is of course one of the great jazz vocalists, and this was an inspired teaming. Kuhn himself is a superlative pianist of vast gifts; each of these recordings illuminates another aspect of his work. Of these three discs only “Ecstasy” was previously available on compact disc, and then only in Japan. “Motility” and “Playground” here receive their first CD releases.

Heiner Goebbels - La Jalousie, Red Run, Herakles 2, Befreiung - Ensemble Modern (1993) {ECM New Series 1483}
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© 1993 ECM Records | ECM New Series 1483
Classical / Electronic / Contemporary Classical / Modern Composition / Avant-Garde / Experimental

Sometimes music is so theatrical that it needs no stage or actors to enlighten its listeners. If such music comprised a genre in and of itself, composer Heiner Goebbels would be one of its most idiosyncratic masters. Along with Michael Mantler, Goebbels represents a theatrical strand in the ECM universe that challenges the reviewer attempting to describe it, yet which is perfectly clear once it reaches the ears. My first encounter came through Surrogate Cities, a dazzling piece of music theatre that remains the yardstick by which I’ve measured all Goebbels experiences since. That being said, the more I hear, the more I recognize the futility of such comparison, for in his decidedly textual sound there is equal room for any and all sentiments to frolic, dance, and weep.

Two albums from Michael Mantler's back-catalogue, repackaged. The enlightened jazz-rock of "Movies" and "More Movies"- from 1978 and 1980 - now fits onto a generously filled single CD. Michael Mantler's talents as composer have often found expression in the channelling of others' abilities. He consistently provides contexts in which soloists can shine. In this sense "Movies" and "More Movies" are - despite extreme temperamental differences - very much in the tradition of his work with the Jazz Composers Orchestra. If, on his "Communications" compositions of the 1960s, his structural frames guided and edited the liberated and uninhibited sounds of Cecil Taylor, Pharoah Sanders and others, so do his "Movies" pieces draw upon the energies of jazz-rock while directing its exponents beyond the limitations of the idiom.

A smorgasbord album, the cast list includes Bjork, Siouxsie Sioux, Brendan Perry, and long-term sidekick Barbera Googan. As expected, the mood is cold, often somber in tone. Only on "The Long Voyage," a springy ditty fronted by Suzanne Vega and John Cale, does the album ascend from the depths. Some of the gloom works, like in "Havet Stomar," a brilliant slow burner with B.J. Cole's pedal steel guitar and ECM artist Lene Willemark's chilling howls. "Annukka Suaren Neito" presents what must be the closest to an Eskimo rap you can get. Mark Isham provides freestyle trumpet that almost sounds like seagulls swooping the skies. The Jane Siberry-fronted "She Is Like the Swallow" is a beauty, as soft as it is light. Hector Zazou's electronics are in fine check too. The canvas expands to new textures, such as metallic percussion in "Adventures in the Scandinavian Skin Trade".