by S. Victor Aaron If you’re a big ECM Records fan like I am, then you’d probably even remember your first ECM record. For a lot of those types, this one is most likely their first ECM. For me, though, it was Terje’s Rypdal’s Waves, which I picked up justRead More

by S. Victor Aaron World class drummer Manu Katché continues to pursue a second musical career as a bandleader with his third ECM release (and fourth overall) on Third Round. His second ECM Playground was warmly greeted here when it first appeared three years ago, and his label debut wasRead More

‘The Köln Concert’ still sounds as fresh and honest as it did when Keith Jarrett composed these songs in front of a live audience.

Hiroyuki Ito for The New York Times by S. Victor Aaron Last month ECM put on sale new offerings by two of their oldest stalwarts: drummer Paul Motian and Ralph Towner. Motian has been discussed on this site probably more than any other drummer, no doubt due to his longRead More

by S. Victor Aaron There’s jazz and and there’s whack jazz, that label I assign to jazz that is unrestrained, unconventional and sometimes, rude. The kind of jazz that you wouldn’t play at any party, but boy, they sure are fun to listen to when you’re really engaged to theRead More

by S. Victor Aaron After forty years in the business, ECM remains one of the busiest jazz labels around, and if anything, they’ve been picking up steam lately. That might be because they continue to bring on exciting new artists while continuing their amazing ability to retain so many ofRead More

by S. Victor Aaron As one of the seminal jazz-rock bands of the seventies, Weather Report has been plenty celebrated and covered. And yet, most of the recognition covers the 1976-1982 period in which the groundbreaking bassist Jaco Pastorious was in the band. Truth is, WR was a great bandRead More

photo: Haakon Harriss by Pico John Surman may not be a household name on these American shores, but it’s hard to think of a sax guy out of Britain who has been more prolific over the last 40 years than this one. His own discography is a wide sweep overRead More

by S. Victor Aaron Brooklyn-born Steve Kuhn has not only enjoyed a long and fruitful career as a pianist of acclaim, but an interesting one as well. He studied classical piano under Margaret Chaloff, who also educated other jazz pianist luminaries like Herbie Hancock and Keith Jarrett. At thirteen, heRead More

by Pico Tuesday was pretty busy day for Manfred Eicher’s fabled label ECM Records, as this was a day when they are released no less than five CD’s. For this all-ECM version of Quickies, we’re going to take some fairly brief looks at three of these, the more jazz-oriented ones.Read More