2017

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.

Under en längre tid har bandet haft en idé om att tolka och hylla en av husgudarna, det legendariska jazzfusionbandet Weather Report. De har valt ut låtar som inte är de mest uppenbara hittarna utan snarare musik som de kände både utmanade bandet och samspelade med det Oddjobska soundet och svänget. Musiken är hämtad från deras kanske mest kreativa period 1974-1978. nominerat till Grammis för bästa jazz 2017. Släpps på limiterad 10" färgad vinyl.

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. The group came together a decade ago when Bates was teaching at Copenhagen's Rhythmic Music Conservatory. The shared work has included inspired reconstructions of pieces associated with Charlie Parker - a formative influence for both Bates and bassist Eldh - and in this new album, Parker's tune "Passport" is set amid Django originals, and played with respect, contemporary sensibility and joy. Some of Django's own tunes here - such as "Senza Bitterness", "Sadness All The Way Down" and "We Are Not Lost, We Are Simply Finding Our Way" have become core pieces in Belovèd's repertoire, continually remodeled by this trio of improvisers. Bates' composing and arranging skills are much in evidence, along with his freewheeling, free-flowing virtuosic melodic sense. The terse, percussive edge of Petter Eldh's bass provides momentum and drummer Peter Bruun details the music with an almost painterly touch. In the crowded world of the piano trio, Belovèd has developed a sound all its own. "The Study of Touch" was recorded at Oslo's Rainbow Studio in June 2016, and produced by Manfred Eicher.

For his third ECM release as a leader, Chris Potter presents a new acoustic quartet that naturally blends melodic rhapsody with rhythmic muscle. The group includes superlative musicians well known to followers of ECM's many recordings from New York over the past decade: keyboardist David Virelles, bassist Joe Martin and drummer Marcus Gilmore, who each shine in addition to the leader on multiple horns. The Dreamer Is the Dream features Potter on tenor saxophone - the instrument that has made him one of the most admired players of his generation - in the striking opener "Heart in Hand" and such album highlights as "Yasodhara," as well as on soprano sax ("Memory and Desire") and bass clarinet (the title track). Potter is an artist who "employs his considerable technique in service of music rather than spectacle," says The New Yorker, and his composing develops in texture and atmosphere with every album.

Tropiques är Goran Kajfes nya grupp. En kvartett med lika delar jazz och minimalism som leker med vårt tidsbegrepp och försätter oss i musikalisk hypnos. Musiker förutom Goran är Johan Berthling, klaviaturgeniet Alexander Zethson och Johan Holmegard (Dungen). Skivan är inspelad i legendariska Atlantis-studion och mixad av Andreas Werliin (Fire!, Tonbruket).

1957 album reissued, including songs such as "I'm Old Fashioned" "Blue Train" and "Locomotion'.*

Jazz är en musikform som enligt oss upplevs bäst live - i stunden, här och nu. Under de snart 15 år som kvartetten existerat har Bernt nästan varje konsert tagit med låtar som vi aldrig har spelat innan. Små arrangemang som under tiden vi spelar ofta ändras och formas om, allt beroende på vilken väg som musiken visar. Ett spelsätt som bara fungerar då kemin, tilliten och kommunikationen i gruppen stämmer till fullo. När vi nu gick in studion för att spela in gruppens fjärde skiva var målet att få precis den live-känslan men med studions fördelar som ett varmt akustiskt ljud och en bra, välstämd flygel. Alla låtar på skivan är förstatagningar och spelades in i den ordning som de återfinns på skivan, med samma upplägg som om vi skulle ha spelat en konsert. Med skillnaden att ingen publik finns samt att vi tog några pauser för kaffe och lunch. Nu får du som lyssnare uppleva precis det som vi upplevde i studion under 2 dagar i maj. <br/><br/>// Hans Backenroth