Favorite ECM Records of the 21st Century

[Rabshakeh]

1 hour ago, Mark13 said:

John Abercrombie. And there's a couple of Chris Potter-albums I like.

But some of the early records are spectacular. The ECM-sound seemed much more diverse, let's say, up to the mid-nineties. There were occasional albums too that didn't fit the aesthetic. I'm not aware of any such titles post-2000. Tasteful additions to their catalogue of introspective autumn-jazz - yes, but not much more.

I think that ironically the genres covered did expand. More world music and classical and less of a focus on jazz. But I think the releases sounded more similar.

Maybe. Then again maybe not. There are releases by the likes of Evan Parker and Barry Guy that don't fit that mold at all. I think that the difference is the expansion of ECM 'product' starts to drown out the more original records. 

Edited May 21 by Rabshakeh

[HutchFan]

1 minute ago, Rabshakeh said:

Maybe. Then again maybe not. There are releases by the likes of Evan Parker and Barry Guy that don't fit that mold at all. I think that the difference is the expansion of ECM 'product' starts to drown out the more original records. 

I agree. It becomes harder to generalize when the catalog becomes so large.

 

[srellek]

On 4/19/2025 at 6:32 AM, Niko said:

I'd say that ECM was actually quite broad in all decades ... And it always had great American artists on the label... Pretty sure the biggest seller was Köln Concert... 

Btw, three non-ECM albums that I played a lot recently is that trilogy of albums with Lee Konitz that Jakob Bro recorded before joining ECM... Imho, those are stronger "ECM albums" than the ones he actually recorded for the label... At least, I'd say that he had the ECM thing down before joining ECM

^This.