Ecm

ATMA Classique presents an evocative musical portrait of Canadian composer Ana Sokolović. This new recording features the Ensemble contemporain de Montréal, soprano Florie Valiquette, mezzo-soprano Krisztina Szabó, and vocal ensemble Queen of Puddings Music Theatre. The human voice is at the heart of Sokolović’s work, so that it is fitting that her vocal works Sirens, Tanzer Lieder and Pesma are featured on this ATMA debut recording. Evta, a concerto for violin and ensemble, is included and features Andréa Tyniec as soloist.

This ECM debut from renowned guitarist Ferenc Snétberger features the widely-acclaimed Hungarian musician in a spellbinding solo performance recorded live in 2013 before a rapt audience at the Liszt Academy in Budapest.

After a trilogy of highly successful trio albums, Tord Gustavsen branches off in new directions. His new band adds two players familiar to ECM listeners – bassist Mats Eilertsen and saxophonist Tore Brunborg – and introduces the blues-inflected voice of Kristin Asbjørnsen on Tord’s settings of the poetry of W.H. Auden. Inside the ensemble, duo and trio interaction unfolds, taking off from the clear melodic language of Gustavsen’s songwriting.

Keyboardist Craig Taborn’s Daylight Ghosts is his third ECM release as a leader, a quartet album following acclaimed solo and trio recordings. In addition to Taborn on piano and electronic keyboards and drummer Dave King, the quartet features two New York jazz luminaries, reed player Chris Speed and bassist Chris Lightcap. Each member draws from a broad artistic background, as informed by rock, electronica and diverse strains of world music as by the various permutations of jazz improvisation. "Daylight Ghosts" is animated by dynamism and spectral ambience, acoustic and electric sounds and groove and lingering melody.

"Elegy" is the ECM leader debut by vocalist and composer Theo Bleckmann. A prolific recording artist, his association with the label dates back to Meredith Monk's 2002 date Mercy and its follow-up, Impermanence, in 2008 (Bleckmann was a member of her ensemble for 15 years). His voice was also a focal point of Julia Hulsmann's quartet on 2015's Clear Midnight: Kurt Weill & America. For a singer who draws attention to himself almost as much for what he doesn't do as what he does, Elegy is a quiet yet startling offering.

On its second ECM album, recorded in New York last year, Fly continues to overturn the conventions of the sax/bass/drums trio. Mark Turner, Larry Grenadier and Jeff Ballard share freedom and responsibilities in a democratically-constituted band of equals, which is never about soloist-and-accompaniment. More often coolheaded and thoughtful than incantatory, the trio’s music subtly interweaves improvisation and composition; there are some deep conversations, and reflections on jazz history, taking place inside it.

A very unusual record – one that has Keith Jarrett playing some solo organ – and a baroque organ at that – but in ways that are quite different than you might expect! The sounds here are amazing – almost noisy at points, as Jarrett really works the instrument in an exploration of textures and tones, less in a pursuit of melody – so what might initially look like one of Jarrett's neo-classical recordings is instead one of his most experimental – especially as the set moves on! "Hymn Of Remembrance" initiates the album – with a slightly sentimental quality – but Keith then shifts into his nine-part "Spheres" suite – which is full of amazing textures and sounds!

Album compilation of several recordings for ECM Records Keith Jarret. Limited edition in commemoration of the 15th anniversary of the ECM label.

On this second release, the unique improvising quartet Dans Les Arbres continues to fine tune its artistic concept, patiently traversing its luminous planes of sound with a rare sense of accord and shared responsibilities. The combination of its unorthodox sound sources, including Xavier Charles’s clarinet harmonics, Christian Wallumrød’s prepared piano, Ivar Grydeland’s bowed banjo and Ingar Zach’s differentiated gran cassa leads to free playing and spontaneous group composing in a class of its own, resulting in music that unfolds with poetic logic and unhurried pace.