ECM

Ralph Alessi Quartet: Quiver 2016 [CD]

Bach: Six partitas (Schiff) [2 CD]

In June 1994 over three extraordinary nights at the celebrated Blue Note in New York City, Keith Jarrett's Standards Trio took American jazz to new heights. Keith Jarrett At The Blue Note - The Complete Recordings (six CDs) captures every tune from every set from every night - a unique documentation of one of this decade's greatest performances. "Jarrett makes each new note sound like a discovery ... The music whispered and glimmered, seeking a pure, incorporeal song." <br/>(New York Times, June 6, 1994)<br/><br/>Keith Jarrett, piano<br/>Gary Peacock, bass<br/>Jack DeJohnette, drums<br/><br/>Recorded June 1994

Digipack.<br/><br/>Arild Andersen's compilation takes a zigzag path through his discography highlighting his own groups, his soloistic brilliance as a bassist and his perceptiveness in recognizing talent in bud. Quite a few musicians received early exposure through Andersen's efforts. Amongst them: Bill Frisell, Nils Petter Molvær, Jon Balke, Bendik Hofseth, Bugge Wesseltoft and, more recently, Vassilis Tsabropoulos. Andersen's :rarum also includes encounters with established masters Paul Motian, Kenny Wheeler, and Ralph Towner. "It's been some fantastic years with ECM, and I feel I've just started."<br/><br/>.

This 3-CD set with recordings from 1978 to 1980, issued in ECM's acclaimed Old & New Masters series, returns some historically-important material to the catalogue, namely the albums Arcade, Abercrombie Quartet and M. The quartet with Richie Beirach, George Mraz and Peter Donald was the group in which guitarist John Abercrombie defined some priorities, moving away from a jazz-rock period into a more spacious, impressionistic and original music. Abercrombie and pianist Beirach had a strong musical affinity as improvisers and wrote almost all of the band's book between them. Bassist George Mraz and drummer Peter Donald provided imaginative and creative support, with Mraz also penning a couple of tunes. For this edition the recordings - made in Oslo and Ludwigsburg and produced by Manfred Eicher - were newly remastered from original analog sources. It's a first appearance on CD for these discs in most world territories (Arcade was briefly available on compact disc in Japan) and re-release of these titles has been much requested by followers of both Abercrombie and Beirach as well as ECM collectors.

Bro Jakob/Mikkelborg/Morgan: Returnings 2018 [CD]

Released on the occasion of Anouar Brahem's 60th birthday, "Blue Maqams" offers many reasons to celebrate. Recorded in New York's Avatar Studios in May 2017 and produced by Manfred Eicher, it brings the Tunisian oud master together with three brilliant improvisers: the "Maqams" of the title refers to the Arabic modal music system, rendered kind of blue by the jazz players. For Anouar Brahem and Dave Holland the album marks a reunion: they first collaborated 20 years ago on the very widely-acclaimed "Thimar" album. Brahem meets Jack DeJohnette for the first time here, but Holland and DeJohnette have been frequent musical partners over the last half-century beginning with ground-breaking work with Miles Davis - their collaborations are legendary. British pianist Django Bates also rises superbly to the challenge of Brahem's compositions. And Anouar in turn is inspired to some of his most outgoing playing. "Blue Maqams" is a highlight of ECM's autumn season.