ECM (Edition of Contemporary Music) is a German record label founded in 1969 by Manfred Eicher. Spanning the gamut from jazz to classical and various hybrids thereof, ECM has been at the forefront of contemporary music since its inception and has also been long known for its meticulous recordings and distinctive cover art. More information can be found here.
My goal in maintaining this blog is to provide a subjective and open forum for all things ECM. Eventually, I hope to review every album released on the ECM and ECM New Series imprints and will be using this blog primarily for that purpose. I will be proceeding as chronologically as I am able, though the order of reviews will also depend on what I am listening to at the time and on the trajectory of future releases.
I am indebted to Paul Geffen and his ECM Discography for providing essential information regarding recording dates and locations whenever liner notes were not present.
Image credits:
The header images are my own. All album covers are the property of ECM.
Dear Tyran,
You have made a great start on a very ambitious project!
I will follow this blog with great interest.
- Paul Geffen
Great idea, and fantastic blog! ^^
Hi there,
Just wondering about updating some information about recent Meredith Monk releases, including “mercy” and “impermanence”. Also curious about posting one of her you tube videos- “Hocket” from “Facing North”:
Thank you!
Peter Sciscioli, Assistant Manager
Meredith Monk/The House Foundation for the Arts
Hello, Peter,
Thank you so much for dropping by and taking the time to post!
I actually just drafted a review of “Volcano Songs” yesterday, and will post it soon. I will be more than happy to do write-ups on “mercy” and “impermanence” as well. Keep an eye out for them this week.
And thank you for the YouTube suggestion. I have now added it to the videos page.
-Tyran
By the way, your blog is snowing to the core. Keep your words warm.
Great idea for your blog. I wish there were more individuals like you supporting valuable sources of music, of jazz, of art. Thank you.
And thank you for the heartening words. Calling this blog a labor of love would be an understatement, and I am humbled to know that others feel the same.
First visit and found much of interest. Passionate original writing, greatly to be commended. (Too many jazz blogs just cut and paste the Scott Yanow/ AllMusic review and think thats it.!) Adding a Youtube when you can find it adds an important dimension. Reading about music is good but its also nice to be able to hear what is being writing about. Keep up the god work. The world needs to hear more jazz to make it a better place.
Thank you for such kind sentiments, and also for the YouTube suggestion. In the future, I hope to post samples (with ECM’s permission) in each review, as YouTube links of this nature tend to be very unstable or are taken down due to copyright infringements. And I agree 100% with your last comment. I have only come to recognize the powerful uplift of jazz in the past few years, and ECM has been instrumental in this awakening.
Err … that should read “good work” not “god work”. Though come to think about it…
Dear Tyran
I have known your blog almost from the beginning but have only recently become more interactive in the blogging world! I realize how much I still have to discover about the music I love and will be catching up here and attempting to add a few thoughts when I feel able to contribute something verbal.
It is a privilege to be added to your ‘Other Sites of Interest’ list – thank you.
Dear Diana,
I am touched by your words and feel fortunate that anyone would have been following my thoughts for so long. If and when you ever feel compelled to chime in on any of the music I have reviewed, feel free to do so. The more opinions, the merrier!
Dear Tyran,
Thanks for your wonderful blog. I recently got Spotify and read Geoff Dyer’s article on ECM (which I’ve been into since Crystal Silence). One thing led to another and I came upon and subscribed to your posts. Your reviews have led to much listening pleasure that I would otherwise have never come across. As others have said, I wish there were more people with your depth of knowledge who were willing to share it in this way. In the meantime, I’m extremely grateful that you are willing to do so.
Best regards,
Tom Lane
Dear Tom,
I am humbled by your compliments, and further strengthened to know that this music matters far beyond the little circle I am drawing with my drop-in-the-bucket reviews. I would be the last, however, to profess any depth of knowledge, for I only know what I hear and what the music tells me to say.
Best,
Tyran
Dear Tyran,
I suspect you’re being a bit more humble than appropriate, but I understand the impulse behind your response. Your dedication is commendable and I among many others am enriched by it.
Best,
Tom
I can honestly say that the music on ECM changed/saved my life. After hearing Pat Metheney’s “Bright Size Life”, and subsequently Gary Burtons “Ring”, Keith Jarrett’s “My Song”, and albums by Ralph Towner, Jan Garbarek, Bill Connors, Bill Frisell, Egberto Gismonte, Eberhard Weber and many others, I unequivocally devoted my life to music. I was a depressed teenager with nowhere else to turn. I now play, record, and engineer (Live and Studio) music for a living. Manfred Eicher has done a great service to me, other musicians, and the world… Three cheers for ECM and Manfred Eicher!!!
Omar Rane.
Thank you, Omar, for sharing your love of ECM, which I can relate to wholeheartedly, for it changed me in much the same way. The music of ECM was a defining discovery of my teens that led me out of some very dark places. Being able to listen alone in my room, with headphones and portable CD player, comforted me in ways that nothing else ever did. Where for you it was the jazz greats you list (many of whom I only discovered later, as my introduction was through the New Series), it was the work of Arvo Pärt, Paul Giger, David Darling, and the Hilliard Ensemble that first smoothed out the creases of my emotional map. Now that I’ve opened myself through this review project to nooks of the catalogue I’d never explored (if you can believe it, I only heard The Köln Concert for the first time when I wrote my review for it two years ago!), ECM’s significance has only emboldened itself across the ever-changing landscape that is my life. And so, I gladly take up your call and add my voice to three cheers (and infinitely more) for Herr Eicher and his team.
Thank you Tyran for creating this blog. It’s funny, but I tell people about ECM all the time, and very few people have ever heard of it. Anyhow, it sounds like you and I had similar experiences, although I had a turntable and some killer Magnat speakers that I bought washing dishes in a restaurant that I would turn really loud. My friends were all listening to Pink Floyd and AC/DC and such and was listening to stuff like “Nude Ants” and “New Chataqua”.
p.s. I have loads of original music in the ECM style on my soundcloud page at http://soundcloud.com/tonefreak66 if you have time check out any of my stuff under the set called “Original Acoustic Guitar Music by Omar Rane”
Thanks again, Omar Rane.
I often get the same reaction from people about ECM. All the more reason to educate! By the way, your music is beautiful. I’m particularly fond of “Adios Amigo” and “So Long Old Friend.” Seems like I gravitate toward the farewells
Love “Billy Goat Gruff,” too. Can definitely hear the Metheny influence.
Thanks for listening Tyran, it really means a lot to me. Yes there is a Metheny influence, but also, I feel, Ralph Towner, Egberto Gismonte, and Bill Connors influenced me greatly. I want to be an ECM artist when I grow up…
PS, If you haven’t yet reviewed Ralph Towner and Gary Peacock’s ECM release “Oracle”, it’s awesome.
BTW, I have been writing some new music, I’ll keep you posted…
I can certainly see the other influences you list in your music, especially Connors. I have, in fact, reviewed Oracle (click here). Wonderful record!
Dear Tyran,
actually I do not know where to post this comment. Maybe you already knew about this, but I have found an interesting interview with Manfred Eicher on FORA.tv:
fora.tv/2009/11/19/Jazz_A_Conversation_with_Manfred_Eicher
It’s worth watching!
With best regards from Germany,
Marty
Dear Marty, Thanks so much for this. I’ll be sure to watch it whenever life allows me the time!
You’re welcome!
Hi Tyran,
I have just find your blog. I’m a big fan of ECM and I’m glad I found a place to talk about it.
I do not like all ECM discography but all ECM phenomenon it’s fantastic. It’s a example of great professionalism.
Did you have any information about the ECM photographers ?
Regards from Romania,
Emilian
Hello, Emilian. Thanks for stopping by the site. Your photography is stunning, and I could certainly imagine some of it on an ECM album cover. Unfortunately, I do not have any connections to ECM photographers. Best of luck in your work, Tyran
Thanks for visiting my website. Is an old dream of mine to give a photo on one of the ECM covers. I will definitely return to your blog.
Keep in touch,
Emilian
Tyran — Consistent with others, I truly applaud your efforts. Your reviews truly reflect the deep appreciation you have (and I share) for the ECM label. I’d be interesting in knowing whether Steve Lake or others from ECM have contacted you to comment on your website. For me, as a long time enthusiast (since my vinyl purchase of Circle Paris Concert about thirty years ago), I continue to closely follow the ECM label, and your website serves as a principal part of my recreational web surfing. Thank you again for everything you’ve done for this wonderful artform.
I’m so grateful for your comments, which confirm that what I’m doing is meaningful at least to a subset of the listening public. This project has been the least I can do in return for all that ECM has given me. I have indeed been in contact with Steve Lake, about whom I’m sporadically working on a three-part interview and exploration of his contributions to the label as producer, so stay tuned for that in the coming months. I will also have something of a surprise piece early next year, which I hope my readers will appreciate.
Hi Tyran,
Many thanks for your long list of exceptionally considered reviews of the ECM stable over 2012.
I have read each one with interest, and always look forward to the next.
You have now earned, and deserve, a nice long rest over the Christmas and New Year festive season – for a change I recommend a darkened room, a good hi-fi system, a glass of your favourite tipple and an above subliminal listening of Bang on a Can’s version of Brian Eno’s ‘Music For Airports’.
That should re-set you for another big year of Rypdal, Towner, Garbarek and the rest of the ECM ‘noise’.
Happy Christmas and, again, many thanks,
Terry
Wanted to do this myself but time and finances would never allow. I have to pick my ecm records carefully. Thank you so much for sharing!
What a treat for a Monday morning to find you had posted a piece with a link to my London Jazz Festival Nordic review, and a lovely mention of my art work. Thanks for the compliment from a non music professional! Best wishes, Diana
This blog is a treasure chest which makes me lose track of time.
Thank you for sharing.
Regrads from Sounth Korea.
Thank you so very much. I am fulfilled to know that it can be of such meaning.
Yesterday I received the new ECM catalogue 2013 which is offered through their website. I was intrigued to read about a 6 CD box “Selected Signs III – VIII” which had been released to go with the exhibition in Munich. Beautiful packaged with pergament paper and a stellar compilation as far as I am concerned by only glancing at the featured musicians….. Amazingly, the box set isn’t listed at amazon.com, I only found it here –> http://www.shirokko-online.de/ECM-Selected-Signs-Box