Favorite ECM Records of the 21st Century

[clifford_thornton]

Barre Phillips' End to End, definitely.

The Evan Parker run is quite interesting too. I guess the Maneris mostly were released prior to the 2001 cutoff, but they feel relevant (as they should).

[Guy Berger]

21 hours ago, Milestones said:

Mostly Coltrane--Steve Kuhn, with Lovano prominently featured.

  

Yes!  Coltrane tributes are a crowded space but this one is excellent.

[Dub Modal]

Manu Katche’s Neighborhood is another good one. From ‘04 with Stanko. 
 

Charles Lloyd’s Mirror is damn fine too. A 2009 recording with Jason Moran 

[Holy Ghost]

Found this one and like it a lot (Goodwill of all places!) Stefano Bollani-Piano Solo (2006).

On 12/31/2020 at 9:57 PM, Dub Modal said:

Did Stanko ever make a bad album? Even if he's a sideman I'm down for it. 

...no, I don't think he ever made a bad album too, but he never got to me either. I had two of his ECM's and never went back to them and sold them. I can't put my finger on it, but like he sounds so mechanical about his business I guess. Excellent musician, maybe he's just too ECM'd, I don't know how to put it. Safe, maybe. 

Edited June 8, 2022 by Holy Ghost

[OliverM]

10 hours ago, clifford_thornton said:

Barre Phillips' End to End, definitely.

Also treasure this one, and was wondering how much it was appreciated.

[randyhersom]

Five Ralph Towner CDs released this century.  All tend toward tasteful rather than groundbreaking, but worth checking out.

[Milestones]

You have to be in a certain mood to listen to Stanko, or at least I have to be.  

He very much typifies the "ECM sound."

 

 

 

[Dub Modal]

34 minutes ago, randyhersom said:

Five Ralph Towner CDs released this century.  All tend toward tasteful rather than groundbreaking, but worth checking out.

I need to check those out. All of the Towner albums I have are older. 
 

33 minutes ago, Milestones said:

You have to be in a certain mood to listen to Stanko, or at least I have to be.  

He very much typifies the "ECM sound."

 

 

 

For the most part, yeah. Once settled in though, I find those albums riveting. His sideman work on that Katche album doesn’t necessarily fit that mold however.

[Rabshakeh]

Interesting that what is very much absent from this list is not so much European musicians as Nordic musicians (save for a few). 

I am currently doing a Spotify plunge into those Scandi ECM mainstays that filled the jazz sections of my youth, which is what brought me to this thread. ECM's output in the first 15 years of this millennium was heavy with Norwegians, Swedes and Finns, plays very considered expensive music. 

It is not all bad, but what I would say is that it is a surprisingly low hit rate. Probably the lowest for any run on a record label that I can think of. And there is so much of it.

[Dub Modal]

2 hours ago, Rabshakeh said:

Interesting that what is very much absent from this list is not so much European musicians as Nordic musicians (save for a few). 

I am currently doing a Spotify plunge into those Scandi ECM mainstays that filled the jazz sections of my youth, which is what brought me to this thread. ECM's output in the first 15 years of this millennium was heavy with Norwegians, Swedes and Finns, plays very considered expensive music. 

It is not all bad, but what I would say is that it is a surprisingly low hit rate. Probably the lowest for any run on a record label that I can think of. And there is so much of it.

Which ones are hitting the most for you? I tend to dig Vesala and Garbarek from those early years the most. 

[Niko]

Some favorites that haven't been mentioned yet are Break Stuff by Vijay Iyer, the first Vijay Iyer Wadada Leo Smith duo (a cosmic rhythm...) and Mboko by David Virelles...

Regarding the Scandinavians of our youth, Bobo Stenson Trio albums are my go-to albums now

Edited April 16 by Niko

[Rabshakeh]

1 hour ago, Dub Modal said:

Which ones are hitting the most for you? I tend to dig Vesala and Garbarek from those early years the most. 

Yeah. Mostly the ones I already knew. Vesala, some judicious Garbarek, and Stenson.

The weaker ones are the endless releases by the younger musicians that at the time just seemed to be churned out by ECM and which, with the benefit of the internet, really were just being churned out. Tord Gustavsen etc. All released with album covers that just seem to be stock imagery of dull grey landscapes.

A whole generation of young musicians who seemed to be picked to fill a niche. 

[Dub Modal]

7 minutes ago, Rabshakeh said:

Yeah. Mostly the ones I already knew. Vesala, some judicious Garbarek, and Stenson.

The weaker ones are the endless releases by the younger musicians that at the time just seemed to be churned out by ECM and which, with the benefit of the internet, really were just being churned out. Tord Gustavsen etc. All released with album covers that just seem to be stock imagery of dull grey landscapes.

A whole generation of young musicians who seemed to be picked to fill a niche. 

Re Tord, I've always wanted to get one of his LPs so that I could speed the songs up. His pacing seems deliberately slow and dragged out. Wondering if I can get him up to hard bop time and if that would sound better...?

[Rabshakeh]

15 minutes ago, Dub Modal said:

Re Tord, I've always wanted to get one of his LPs so that I could speed the songs up. His pacing seems deliberately slow and dragged out. Wondering if I can get him up to hard bop time and if that would sound better...?

Ha! 

Some of them are super expensive non-music without resolutions, but there are a few records from that scene that are recognisably jazz but just very slow and sensitive: Jakob Young for example. It would be a fun experiment. Change the speed setting and whack up the bass.

[mjzee]

I think a key part of the ECM aesthetic is the disparagement of rhythm.  Eicher just doesn't believe in the beat.  Even if there's a drummer, the effect is more decorative - the drummer plays around the beat but doesn't really keep time.  So, yes, 

2 hours ago, Rabshakeh said:

Change the speed setting and whack up the bass.

but also add a drum machine.  See if there's some juice in these wan tracks.

[JSngry]

Crawl?

 

[Rabshakeh]

42 minutes ago, mjzee said:

but also add a drum machine.  See if there's some juice in these wan tracks.

Nice big boombap sound, please. Give Tord what he needs.

[mjazzg]

I like Tord's albums well enough as they are (just don't listen to more than one at a time) but I can see the attraction of putting a rocket under him

51 minutes ago, mjzee said:

I think a key part of the ECM aesthetic is the disparagement of rhythm.  Eicher just doesn't believe in the beat.  Even if there's a drummer, the effect is more decorative - the drummer plays around the beat but doesn't really keep time.  So, yes, 

I'd never really thought about it like that but as I type I'm listening to Paul Bley's 'Ballads' (an essential ECM for me) and your description is spot on for a lot of Altschul's playing, not all of it as some is carrying the beat if only obliquely. And this album is from 1971.

 

Edited April 16 by mjazzg

[Rabshakeh]

5 minutes ago, rostasi said:

Yes, a gelatinous, glacial, gravity-optional crawl, narrated by Werner Herzog and sponsored by Ambien Bubblegum.

This is going to be massive in certain areas of the internet. I can see the RYM lists of micro-sub-genres already. 

[JSngry]

17 minutes ago, rostasi said:

Yes, a gelatinous, glacial, gravity-optional crawl, narrated by Werner Herzog and sponsored by Ambien Bubblegum.

Like this?

 

[Rabshakeh]

Mogadon-Bop

Edit: Sorry, 'Spiritual Mogadon-Bop'.

We want this thing to sell.

Edited April 16 by Rabshakeh

[Pim]

On 4/16/2025 at 3:23 PM, Rabshakeh said:

Yeah. Mostly the ones I already knew. Vesala, some judicious Garbarek, and Stenson.

The weaker ones are the endless releases by the younger musicians that at the time just seemed to be churned out by ECM and which, with the benefit of the internet, really were just being churned out. Tord Gustavsen etc. All released with album covers that just seem to be stock imagery of dull grey landscapes.

A whole generation of young musicians who seemed to be picked to fill a niche. 

Yeah is see what you mean. I dived into the ECM disco on Spotify a few months ago listening to albums that were rated highly on RYM. Lots of those more unknown Scandinavian names. I didn’t run into any records that I truly disliked but also not into one I wanted to listen to again. Well just one record by guitarist Jakob Bro.  The only Tord Gustavsen I like is with singer Simin Tander. I like it more for here presence than for Tords who I find a pretty dull pianist to be honest.

[Guy Berger]

On 4/16/2025 at 9:47 AM, mjazzg said:

I like Tord's albums well enough as they are (just don't listen to more than one at a time) but I can see the attraction of putting a rocket under him

I'd never really thought about it like that but as I type I'm listening to Paul Bley's 'Ballads' (an essential ECM for me) and your description is spot on for a lot of Altschul's playing, not all of it as some is carrying the beat if only obliquely. And this album is from 1971.

 

Worth mentioning that album was not recorded for ECM - it was recorded in 1967, ECM just released it a few years later.

There’s a great quote I have trouble sourcing but definitely remember reading, from Branford Marsalis - Led Zeppelin sounded they way they did because they were really into classic American blues (and British folk music).  If you try to imitate them without that same background, you’ll end up sounding like Whitesnake.

Seems applicable here when talking about younger musicians replicating the “ECM sound”.

 

[JSngry]

Consider that in the notion of playing "around"  the beat is implicit that there is a beat there in the first place. Can't blame ECM for that. Sunny Murray maybe 

So I don't blame that, I just note that the overall playing is less physically engaged than I prefer, or maybe even able to engage with. The life experience they communicate is not one that I've had, and to this point Ive no appetite to experience.

But 21st Century ECM ...Enrico Rava!

[mjazzg]

43 minutes ago, Guy Berger said:

Worth mentioning that album was not recorded for ECM - it was recorded in 1967, ECM just released it a few years later.

Thanks, I'm not sure I knew that but I did know that its companion piece was released on IAI so should have realised

43 minutes ago, Guy Berger said: