2021 release. Solo album from the Swiss pianist, composer and conceptualist best known as leader of the bands Ronin and Mobile, Entendre offers deeper insight into Nik Bartch's musical thinking. As the album title implies Entendre is about hearing as a creative process, referencing the patient unfolding of Bartch's modular polymetric pieces, with alertness to the dynamics of touch, finding freedom in aesthetic restriction, serving the flow of each piece's development while also taking the music to new places.

Vijay Iyer presents a powerful new trio, in which he is joined by 2 key figures in creative music, Tyshawn Sorey & Linda May Han Oh. "We have an energy together that is very distinct. It has a different kind of propulsion, a different impulse and a different spectrum of colours". Repertoire on UnEasy, recorded at Oktaven Audio Studio in Mount Vernon, NY in December 2019, includes Iyer originals written over 20 years, plus Gerri Allen's "Drummer's Song" and Cole Porter's "Night and Day."

2019 release. Like their acclaimed ECM release Small Town of 2017 which The Guardian called "wistful and mesmerizing... tonally ingenious and haunting" Epistrophy by guitarist Bill Frisell and bassist Thomas Morgan was recorded at New York City's Village Vanguard. The album once again captures the rare empathy these two players achieve together in this intimate environment. There are further poetic takes on pieces from the duo's beloved Americana songbook ("All in Fun," "Red River Valley," "Save the Last Dance for Me"), as well as another intense version of a composition by Paul Motian ("Mumbo Jumbo"), an artist whom both the guitarist and bassist knew well. Frisell and Morgan communicate the essence of Billy Strayhorn's "Lush Life" and the Frank Sinatra hit "In the Wee Small Hours of the Morning," so much so that the famous words seem to hang in the air even without a singer. At the center of the album is a pair of pieces by Thelonious Monk: the funky, angular "Epistrophy" and the ruminative ballad "Pannonica." And as with "Goldfinger" on Small Town, Frisell and Morgan offer a glowing duo interpretation of a melody-rich John Barry title tune from a James Bond film "You Only Live Twice."

Swept Away sees the top-class quartet of pianist Eliane Elias, double-bassist Marc Johnson, drummer Joey Baron and saxophonist Joe Lovano commune over music that is engaging and sensual, lyrical and swinging. Brazilian-born star Elias previously joined ECM veterans Baron and Lovano on Johnson's 2005 ECM album, Shades of Jade, which reaped praise far and wide. The New York Times enthused over the luminescence created by the close partnership between Elias and Johnson, while the Village Voice said the album was shimmering yet it's lusciousness has all sorts of tensile strength. The same words suit Swept Away, which includes a brace of melody-rich Elias compositions, ranging from the easy-flowing title track to the smoky romanticism of Be Is for Butterfly and after-hours vibe of It's Time. Johnsons brightly grooving, Eastern-tinged When the Sun Comes Up is another highlight, and the album closes with Johnson's solo bass treatment of the old American folk song Shenandoah. Swept Away is music of depth that is disarmingly easy to love.

Double vinyl LP pressing. Vijay Iyer presents a powerful new trio, in which he is joined by 2 key figures in creative music, Tyshawn Sorey & Linda May Han Oh. "We have an energy together that is very distinct. It has a different kind of propulsion, a different impulse and a different spectrum of colours". Repertoire on UnEasy, recorded at Oktaven Audio Studio in Mount Vernon, NY in December 2019, includes Iyer originals written over 20 years, plus Gerri Allen's "Drummer's Song" and Cole Porter's "Night and Day."

UP & COMING (VINYL)

Andando el Tiempo features new music of wide emotional compass by NEA Jazz Master Carla Bley, and underlines her originality and resourcefulness as a jazz composer. Saints Alive! Sets up animated conversations between the three musical participants with striking statements from Steve Swallows bass guitar and Andy Sheppards soprano sax. The stately Naked Bridges/Diving Brides draws inspiration from Mendelssohn and the poetry of Paul Haines. And the powerful three part title composition which addresses the trials and tribulations of recovery from addiction - moves through sorrow to hopefulness and joy. The trio with Sheppard and Swallow has been an ideal vehicle for Carlas writing for more than 20 years and also provides one of the best contexts for her unique piano playing.

Vinyl LP pressing. Charismatic trumpeter Avishai Cohen launched his homegrown band Big Vicious six years ago, after relocating from the US to his native Israel, rounding up friends to shape the music from the ground up. With guitarist Uzi Ramirez, bassist Jonathan Albalak and drummers Aviv Cohen & Ziv Ravitz. Textures from electronica, ambient music and psychedelia are part of the blend, so too grooves and beats from rock, pop, trip-hop and more.

DECLARATION OF MUSICAL INDEPEN

DANCA DAS CABECAS (VINYL)

EL VALLE DE LA INFAN

2013 collaboration between legendary British Folk singer June Tabor, Welsh Jazz pianist and composer Huw Warren, and English saxophonist Iain Ballamy. This is the first Quercus album but the trio, very much a collaborative band, has existed for several years, patiently developing it's unique idiomatic blend. Quercus means 'oak' in Latin and the roots of this particular tree dig deep into British Folk music, while leaves and branches reach upward to embrace Jazz-inspired lyrical improvising.

The second complete show to be issued from Keith Jarrett's 2016 European tour, following the acclaimed Munich 2016 concert. This double album documents the pianist's solo performance at Budapest's Bela Bart¢k National Concert Hall. Jarrett, whose roots go back to Hungary, saw it as a homecoming; the context inspired much creative improvisation. His later concerts are comprised of independent movements, each a marvel of spontaneous resourcefulness and creative energy.

FIRST CIRCLE

This is one of seven historical albums, mastered from original analog sources, issued simultaneously in three media formats - as 180 gram vinyl albums, as CDs, as high-resolution download files. Follow the great arc of music on these early ECM productions, with works for orchestra and improvisers, guitar duo, solo piano, and jazz quartet. Sometimes a musical message is so urgent that questions of recording quality are almost beside the point. Informally recorded in 1969 in a noisy club - Copenhagen's famous Jazzhus Montmartre - the flavour of this album is 'documentary' rather than luxuriantly hi-fidelity, yet the essence of Abdullah Ibrahim's communication comes through loud and clear. The listener is drawn into the robust rhythms of his solo piano style, as he re-examines the history of jazz from a South African perspective, with echoes of songs of the townships, and vamps that hint of Monk and Duke and much more. African Piano was a highly influential album, and it has lost none of it's power.