I've gone deep on vinyl - the German ECM pressings are the bees knees!

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BJ
Paul Bley Ballads, Holland/Phillips Music from Two Basses, Towner/Moore Trios Solos, Stanley Cowell Illusion Suite - wow!

Joel what should I be looking for?
 
Ooh....mostly mid-70's/early 80's?

From that period, personal faves: Terje Rypdal (esp. the trio with Trilok Gurtu and Miroslav Vitous)...Barre Phillips...Kenny Wheeler...John Abercrombie....Egberto Gismonti (solo is good, but he had at least a couple excellent group recordings, Sanfona being a fave)....Art Lande and the Desert Patrol...Old and New Dreams (Ornette Alum)...Art Ensemble of Chicago...Steve Riech (esp. Music for 18 musicians)...Jack DeJohnette Special Edition,...for starters....

Most of the above personify that airy, spacey ethereal sound M.E. was focusing on then...with some edgier, post-bop things creeping into the catalogue (Lande, Old and New Dreams, Art Ensemble, Special Edition). Art Ensemble is timeless stuff, any era, any label they recorded on...Full Force, Urban Bushmen and Live in Tokyo are on ECM (among others)...very good.

(edit: now looking thru the immense catalogue...the Terje Rypdal trio with Mirosalv and DeJohnette is also good. The composition "Will" may be worth the price of admission alone...)
 
Ok, great, thanks. The Art Ensemble of Chicago stuff has looked intriguing so I'll go after that...

I have Timeless but haven't listened to it yet.

I am, by the way, very much looking for Bright Size Life - you turned me on the CD, maybe the best thing Metheny ever did.

The Gary Peacock trio with Jarrett and De Johnette is just lovely.

It is all so crazy, it's so good. I just have a lowly Rega P1 and it's just a whole huge new thing.

Well recorded LP's and solid British turntables - just ain't the same thing as the crappy rock albums and marginal Japanese turntables I grew up with...
 
By the way, the Paul Brey Ballads is just nuts...the 10th ECM album - totally different production - more on edge and "live".
 
originally posted by BJ:
By the way, the Paul Brey Ballads is just nuts...the 10th ECM album - totally different production - more on edge and "live".
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Sounds interesting...would love to hear it. Yeah the early ECM stuff was edgy-er for sure, then maybe mid-70's on for a few years, Eicher started smoking dope? Being in college back then, bong hits and most of the late '70's/early '80's catalogue worked for me, at least.

Not sure if it's ECM, but there's a little known recording of Metheny with Paul Bley back in that period. I'd love to hear it now, but it was a bit weird when I heard it back then. Dense and un-melodic... and come to think of it, I think Jaco was on that album too..and neither J nor P sounded like themselves, which is quite an accomplishment.

Good luck finding the Bright Size Life! 80/81 has some interesting stuff on it actually....it's basically Pat with Old and New Dreams (plus Brecker on a cut or two, and Jack D instead of Eddie Blackwell on drums)...if memory serves...(post-bong era and all).

Carla Bley is also interesting in a totally different (would "auturistic" be the word?) kind of way. Or maybe "avante stage music" fits better...her work reminds me (in a macabre/humor kind of way) of Kurt Weill's music...for some strange reason.

Art Ensemble was one helluva band...I saw them live several times in LA and Seattle (once or twice at the Rainbow Tavern up on 45th)...they took you on a musical tour in multiple directions at once through black music history...("Great black music, ancient to the future.." was their motto)...and they could dish it out, from Dixieland, to African Congo to post-Ornette, to Ellington and beyond. Raucous, swinging, outside...and they played silences really well...I mean really well. Also, a visual circus.
 
The 2 Gateway albums are a must. John Abercrombie, Dave Holland, and Jack DeJohnette. Saw them at Yoshi's in Oakland a number of years ago (2004? '06?).

Ralph Towner - Solstice, Solstice Sound and Shadows, and Batik

Pat Metheny - 80/81, As Falls Wichita So Falls Wichita Falls

Timeless is a great album.

Jack DeJohnette's New Directions and New Directions in Europe w/Eddie Gomez, Abercrombie, and Lester Bowie.

I saw the Art Ensemble quite a few times at Yoshi's in the mid to late 90s, but Joseph Jarman wasn't in the group at that time. The only time I saw the full quintet was in the mid-70s at this tiny club in south Berkeley called Mapenzi. That club couldn't have held more than 50 patrons. I was in the front row getting my college-age mind blown.
 
While I have no quibbles with any of the recommended records, I am a little curious as to why no one is recommending any of Keith Jarrett's albums as a leader. Is that because a recommendation is seen as unnecessary or has the anti-Keith backlash finally reached fever pitch?

Aside from those, I have a lot of the early Garbarek albums on vinyl (before the music became too new-agey for my tastes) and enjoy them quite a bit. I would love to find any 80's Dave Holland albums on vinyl.

One ECM rarity that I've never seen on CD but really love is the Denny Zeitlin/Charlie Haden duo album "Time Remembers One Time Once"

Denny's also a pretty big wine lover, but it doesn't look like he's going to be going nuts over something like Cour-Cheverny anytime soon.
 
originally posted by John Ritchie:
While I have no quibbles with any of the recommended records, I am a little curious as to why no one is recommending any of Keith Jarrett's albums as a leader. Is that because a recommendation is seen as unnecessary or has the anti-Keith backlash finally reached fever pitch?

Aside from those, I have a lot of the early Garbarek albums on vinyl (before the music became too new-agey for my tastes) and enjoy them quite a bit. I would love to find any 80's Dave Holland albums on vinyl.

One ECM rarity that I've never seen on CD but really love is the Denny Zeitlin/Charlie Haden duo album "Time Remembers One Time Once"

Denny's also a pretty big wine lover, but it doesn't look like he's going to be going nuts over something like Cour-Cheverny anytime soon.
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On my end definitely the former, re Jarrett - this query was driven by a quest for the obscure good ECM discs.

I agree about Garbarek.

Were the early Holland ECM's analog? I am not crazy about the digital ECM vinyl, it basically sounds like a CD.

I will definitely keep my eyes open for the Zeitlin/Haden LP.
 
originally posted by Larry Stein:
The 2 Gateway albums are a must. John Abercrombie, Dave Holland, and Jack DeJohnette. Saw them at Yoshi's in Oakland a number of years ago (2004? '06?).

Ralph Towner - Solstice, Solstice Sound and Shadows, and Batik

Pat Metheny - 80/81, As Falls Wichita So Falls Wichita Falls

Timeless is a great album.

Jack DeJohnette's New Directions and New Directions in Europe w/Eddie Gomez, Abercrombie, and Lester Bowie.

I saw the Art Ensemble quite a few times at Yoshi's in the mid to late 90s, but Joseph Jarman wasn't in the group at that time. The only time I saw the full quintet was in the mid-70s at this tiny club in south Berkeley called Mapenzi. That club couldn't have held more than 50 patrons. I was in the front row getting my college-age mind blown.
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I did not know you were into jazz, we'll have to talk about it next time.

Listened to Batik last night, a great album indeed.
 
Yes. The Jarrett trio stuff is obviously der riger.

I also looked in the catalogue for this one (but couldn't find it):

Belonging: Jan Garbarek, Jon Christensen, Keith Jarrett & Palle Danielsson

"The Windup" is an historical piece of work.
 
originally posted by Jeff Grossman:
originally posted by Jonathan Loesberg:
originally posted by Ian Fitzsimmons:
Vinyl has been rendered quaint.
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Oh, brother. Now you've started it.
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More quaintness.
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These lists come out like clockwork every September. This is a relatively lame version. In any case, they should all include now as an item, "there was never a time when the entering freshman class was not accompanied by one of these lists."

The only remark about the passage of time that ever made me take a breath was when one of my colleagues asked "when was it that we became older than the parents of our students."
 
Not to add to a potential downward turn here, but it's when the kids of my friends start having kids is the turning point for me.
 
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