Sweet. Since you mention the love/hate relationship with ECM, what artists/releases of theirs do you like? Even if you bristle at the proper spelling of Pat's name, I've got to imagine that you can at least appreciate his early albums and/or his work with Gary Burton, right?
And remember that I am a relative jazz n00b, so there's lots of back stories and fights of which I'm unaware.
Actually, I never cared for Pat, not before, not now. A couple years ago, I gave his stuff another try, but it still ain't happening. I just don't like his sound; a lot of people do.
I'll try to make my first post semi-brief, and then we can work into it.
When I first starting listening to ECM, it was their early stuff back when they started up in the seventies. I really enjoy the Codona trio (Don Cherry/Colin Walcott/Nana Vasconcelos) who put out three albums, the third of those being one of the greatest jazz albums ever. Whereas now ECM is in the chamber jazz thing, ECM back then was much more organic in their world jazz sound. Oregon is another band I enjoyed back then. Arts Ensemble of Chicago was another. I'm forgetting some of my other early ECM, but they'll come back to me at some point. Maybe there was some Charlie Haden in there.
From their eighties/early nineties output, there wasn't much I cared for. Don Cherry made a decent album with Bobo Stenson called "Dona Nostra" that had a wonderful haunting opening track then got boring as it went on, a precursor, in my view, of ECM to come. I liked Bill Frisell's work on ECM. ECM put out a series of artist compilation albums called Works (ie, Bill Frisell: Works). These are great compilations! I don't normally rec comps, but for anyone that has no inclination to purchase entire discographies of artists on ECM, these are good buys. I really enjoy the Chick Corea Works album even though I don't really like Corea much.
About five years ago, I began exploring the new millenium ECM. I find most of it pretty boring, though there are some satisfying exceptions to this. I like Anouar Brahem's stuff, especially "Le Voyage du Sahar". Brahem is definitely a world music sound, not even sure you can call it jazz (or much of ECM's current output for that matter), but whatever, it's a great album. Marcin Wasilewski Trio (piano trio) put out an album a couple years ago called "January" which is a sublime little recording, a perfect album when the sun's about to rise and the world is quiet. Matthew Eick's "The Door" is one of the best of the last decade from any label; he somehow incorporates a pedal steel guitar into his rainy day world jazz and meets with mad genius success. Christian Wallumrod does some interesting compositions, and I'm just now exploring his stuff. Nik Bartsch's Ronin (frenetic piano) and Jacob Young (mournful trumpet) are also very promising; I very much enjoy the music of theirs I own.
Keith Jarrett's work on ECM, in my opinion, is some of the most dreadfully pretentious snooze-a-thons I've ever heard. Lifeless, uninspired music that gets worse when he slims down from a trio to solo album. I am very much in the minority with that opinion. If you want great Jarrett, pick up his stuff on Impulse and Atlantic.
I hate Jan Garbarek with a passion. The sound he gets on his sax is cheesier than Metheney's guitar. Much to my dismay, I keep buying Garbarek albums. And I listen to them. It took years of reflective therapy on the AAJ forum to get me to realize that I only listen to Garbarek at the end of a long night of writing, with the sun coming up, and my head and heart fighting for just one more page of storyline. If the snow is falling over a quiet small Midwestern hometown brick street and expansive cottonwoods, even better. I own something like five Garbarek albums (and currently lining up a purchase of his new album "Dresden"), a fact which I find inexcusable considering how bad I think he is on his sax. Overproduced drek that I keep buying and listening to. Guh.
Alright, I'll stop it there. There's plenty more ECM musicians and albums I could riff on, but we'll get into it piecemeal.
Well, Thom, I know you like Metheny. What else on ECM has caught your ear?
A quick background on Metheny for me - he actually falls into the category of musicians I grew to despise thanks to a certain roommate in college who blasted things that should not be blasted but grew to like when I listened on my own (Steely Dan would be another). It was mainly after realizing that much of the music I loved in the classic movie Fandango was his that I sought to listen to more.
As for the rest of ECM, I only began to delve into the rest of their catalog a couple years ago when it began appearing on eMu UK (yes, I'm in the US, but it doesn't take much to fake a British account). I checked out various recommendations and began listening to Chick Corea, Gary Burton, Eberhard Weber, and yes, even Keith Jarrett. Only listened to it a couple times, but The Köln Concert really wowed me. And after searching through my library you may find it humorous that I never corrected the tagging which had the genre labelled as "Other".
I'm not sure that I've listened to anything on ECM past the early 80s as that is all that was available on eMu UK at the time. It's not exactly my favorite jazz label, but due to Metheny's affiliation and that early sound of theirs I enjoy it's one I'd like to explore even further.
A quick background on Metheny for me - he actually falls into the category of musicians I grew to despise thanks to a certain roommate in college who blasted things that should not be blasted but grew to like when I listened on my own (Steely Dan would be another). It was mainly after realizing that much of the music I loved in the classic movie Fandango was his that I sought to listen to more.
I can't remember whether I saw Fandango before I bought the Pat Metheny/Lyle Mays CD (As Falls Wichita, So Falls Wichita Falls) that provided most of the soundtrack. I think I already had the CD and recognized the music, which brought me back to the album. Great movie.
I bought that huge ECM collection on Lala recently, but haven't listened to much of it yet. I did listen to the Metheny disc and liked it.
Comments
And remember that I am a relative jazz n00b, so there's lots of back stories and fights of which I'm unaware.
I'll try to make my first post semi-brief, and then we can work into it.
When I first starting listening to ECM, it was their early stuff back when they started up in the seventies. I really enjoy the Codona trio (Don Cherry/Colin Walcott/Nana Vasconcelos) who put out three albums, the third of those being one of the greatest jazz albums ever. Whereas now ECM is in the chamber jazz thing, ECM back then was much more organic in their world jazz sound. Oregon is another band I enjoyed back then. Arts Ensemble of Chicago was another. I'm forgetting some of my other early ECM, but they'll come back to me at some point. Maybe there was some Charlie Haden in there.
From their eighties/early nineties output, there wasn't much I cared for. Don Cherry made a decent album with Bobo Stenson called "Dona Nostra" that had a wonderful haunting opening track then got boring as it went on, a precursor, in my view, of ECM to come. I liked Bill Frisell's work on ECM. ECM put out a series of artist compilation albums called Works (ie, Bill Frisell: Works). These are great compilations! I don't normally rec comps, but for anyone that has no inclination to purchase entire discographies of artists on ECM, these are good buys. I really enjoy the Chick Corea Works album even though I don't really like Corea much.
About five years ago, I began exploring the new millenium ECM. I find most of it pretty boring, though there are some satisfying exceptions to this. I like Anouar Brahem's stuff, especially "Le Voyage du Sahar". Brahem is definitely a world music sound, not even sure you can call it jazz (or much of ECM's current output for that matter), but whatever, it's a great album. Marcin Wasilewski Trio (piano trio) put out an album a couple years ago called "January" which is a sublime little recording, a perfect album when the sun's about to rise and the world is quiet. Matthew Eick's "The Door" is one of the best of the last decade from any label; he somehow incorporates a pedal steel guitar into his rainy day world jazz and meets with mad genius success. Christian Wallumrod does some interesting compositions, and I'm just now exploring his stuff. Nik Bartsch's Ronin (frenetic piano) and Jacob Young (mournful trumpet) are also very promising; I very much enjoy the music of theirs I own.
Keith Jarrett's work on ECM, in my opinion, is some of the most dreadfully pretentious snooze-a-thons I've ever heard. Lifeless, uninspired music that gets worse when he slims down from a trio to solo album. I am very much in the minority with that opinion. If you want great Jarrett, pick up his stuff on Impulse and Atlantic.
I hate Jan Garbarek with a passion. The sound he gets on his sax is cheesier than Metheney's guitar. Much to my dismay, I keep buying Garbarek albums. And I listen to them. It took years of reflective therapy on the AAJ forum to get me to realize that I only listen to Garbarek at the end of a long night of writing, with the sun coming up, and my head and heart fighting for just one more page of storyline. If the snow is falling over a quiet small Midwestern hometown brick street and expansive cottonwoods, even better. I own something like five Garbarek albums (and currently lining up a purchase of his new album "Dresden"), a fact which I find inexcusable considering how bad I think he is on his sax. Overproduced drek that I keep buying and listening to. Guh.
Alright, I'll stop it there. There's plenty more ECM musicians and albums I could riff on, but we'll get into it piecemeal.
Well, Thom, I know you like Metheny. What else on ECM has caught your ear?
Ambrose Field & John Potter - Being Dufay
Steve Reich proved perfect at the end of a long day yesterday.
God, that's an ugly colour though.
As for the rest of ECM, I only began to delve into the rest of their catalog a couple years ago when it began appearing on eMu UK (yes, I'm in the US, but it doesn't take much to fake a British account). I checked out various recommendations and began listening to Chick Corea, Gary Burton, Eberhard Weber, and yes, even Keith Jarrett. Only listened to it a couple times, but The Köln Concert really wowed me. And after searching through my library you may find it humorous that I never corrected the tagging which had the genre labelled as "Other".
I'm not sure that I've listened to anything on ECM past the early 80s as that is all that was available on eMu UK at the time. It's not exactly my favorite jazz label, but due to Metheny's affiliation and that early sound of theirs I enjoy it's one I'd like to explore even further.
I can't remember whether I saw Fandango before I bought the Pat Metheny/Lyle Mays CD (As Falls Wichita, So Falls Wichita Falls) that provided most of the soundtrack. I think I already had the CD and recognized the music, which brought me back to the album. Great movie.
I bought that huge ECM collection on Lala recently, but haven't listened to much of it yet. I did listen to the Metheny disc and liked it.