Jazz & Improvisation / All styles

French violinist Dominique Pifarély's quartet with pianist Antonin Rayon, bassist Bruno Chevillon and drummer François Merville, eight Pifarély compositions. Recorded July 2015 at Studios La Buissonne, Pernes-les-Fontaines; produced by Manfred Eicher…

First trio album by Dutch pianist Wolfert Brederode, with Icelandic bassist Gulli Gudmundsson and drummer Jasper van Hulten, twelve Brederode pieces and one by Gudmundsson. Recorded July 2015 at Auditorio Stelio Molo RSI, Lugano; produced by Manfred …

Trio album led by drummer and percussionist Ches Smith with pianist Craig Taborn and violist Mat Maneri, eight Smith compositions for improvisers. Recorded June 2015 at Avatar Studios, New York; produced by Manfred Eicher.

Mats Eilertsen's first ECM album as leader: his own compositions, first commissioned by the Vossajazz Festival, played by a septet with Trygve Seim, Eirik Hegdal, Harmen Fraanje and Rob Waring. Recorded May 2015 at Rainbow Studio, Oslo; produced by M…

First album by Thomas Strønen's acoustic ensemble Time Is A Blind Guide, with Kit Downes (piano), Håkon Aase, Lucy Railton, Ole Morten Vågan and two percussionists. Recorded June 2015, Rainbow Studio, Oslo; produced by Sun Chung and Strønen.

Trio album by Tord Gustavsen (piano, electronics, synth bass), Simin Tander (voice) and Jarle Vespestad (drums): Norwegian hymns sung in Pashto plus Rumi and Rexroth settings. Recorded April 2015, Rainbow Studio, Oslo, produced by Manfred Eicher.

Debut ECM album of Nik Bärtsch's acoustic quartet Mobile (Bärtsch, Sha, Kaspar Rast, Nicolas Stocker), joined on three pieces by a string quintet. Recorded March 2015 at Auditorio Stelio Molo RSI, Lugano, produced by Manfred Eicher.

Largely improvised quartet album by Giovanni Guidi (piano), Gianluca Petrella (trombone), Louis Sclavis (clarinet, bass clarinet) and Gerald Cleaver (drums), recorded in February 2015 at Auditorio Stelio Molo RSI, Lugano, produced by Manfred Eicher.

Solo piano recital by Masabumi Kikuchi: nine improvisations, Bonfá's Manhã de Carnaval and his own Little Abi. Recorded live on 26 October 2012 at Tokyo Bunka Kaikan Recital Hall, his last solo concert; mixed in Oslo and produced by Manfred Eicher.

Four-part suite by Iro Haarla for jazz quintet (Haarla, Trygve Seim, Hayden Powell, Ulf Krokfors, Mika Kallio) and the Norrlands Operans Symfoniorkester conducted by Jukka Iisakkila. Recorded October 2012 at NorrlandsOperan, Umeå, at the premiere and…

Ten settings of poems by Rumi, mostly in Coleman Barks's English versions, by Trygve Seim (saxophones) with Tora Augestad (voice), Frode Haltli (accordion) and Svante Henryson (cello). Recorded February 2015 at Rainbow Studio, Oslo; produced by Manfr…

Song cycle on the myth of the world tree by Sinikka Langeland (kantele, voice) with Arve Henriksen, Trygve Seim, Anders Jormin, Markku Ounaskari and Trio Mediæval. Recorded February 2015 at Rainbow Studio, Oslo; produced by Manfred Eicher.

Second ECM solo album by Norwegian pianist Jon Balke: sixteen short piano pieces set in "sound images" (field recordings, electronics, voices) made with Audun Kleive. Recorded September 2014 at Rainbow Studio, Oslo, mixed 2015 in Lugano; produced by …

Third ECM album by Tim Berne's Snakeoil, now a quintet: Berne (alto saxophone), Oscar Noriega (clarinets), Ryan Ferreira (guitars), Matt Mitchell (piano, electronics), Ches Smith (drums, vibraphone, timpani). Recorded December 2014 in Rhinebeck, NY; …

Song cycle by Ketil Bjørnstad (piano) on thirteen "hotel poems" by Lars Saabye Christensen, sung by Anneli Drecker. Recorded June 2016 at Rainbow Studio, Oslo, engineer Jan Erik Kongshaug; produced by Bjørnstad.

Eberhard Weber's companion album to Résumé: bass solos recorded live with the Jan Garbarek Group in thirteen European cities between 1990 and 2007, reworked with his keyboards and Ack van Rooyen's flugelhorn. Mixed November 2014 at La Buissonne; prod…

Second ECM album by trumpeter Ralph Alessi as leader, with Gary Versace (piano), Drew Gress (double bass) and Nasheet Waits (drums), ten Alessi compositions. Recorded September 2014 at Rainbow Studio, Oslo, mixed in New York; produced by Manfred Eich…

Third ECM album by saxophonist Andy Sheppard, with Eivind Aarset (guitar, electronics), Michel Benita (double bass) and Sebastian Rochford (drums). Recorded August 2014 at Auditorio Stelio Molo RSI, Lugano; produced by Manfred Eicher.

Second ECM album by the Swiss-Italian trio Third Reel: Nicolas Masson (tenor and soprano saxophones, clarinet), Roberto Pianca (guitar), Emanuele Maniscalco (drums, piano). Recorded August 2014 at Auditorio Stelio Molo RSI, Lugano; produced by Manfre…

ECM leader debut of drummer Andrew Cyrille, with Bill Frisell (guitar), Richard Teitelbaum (synthesizer, piano) and Ben Street (double bass). Recorded July 2014 at Brooklyn Recording, New York; produced by Sun Chung.

Live trio album devoted to songs and art songs by Alec Wilder, with Stefano Battaglia (piano), Salvatore Maiore (double bass) and Roberto Dani (drums). Recorded 28 April 2014 at Teatro Vittoria, Torino (Torino Jazz Festival); produced by Manfred Eich…

Gary Peacock Trio (Peacock, double bass; Marc Copland, piano; Joey Baron, drums): seven Peacock tunes, two by Copland, one by Baron and LaFaro's Gloria's Step, recorded July 2014 at Rainbow Studio, Oslo, produced by Manfred Eicher.

Ben Monder's first ECM album as leader: solo electric guitar, duos with Paul Motian (October 2010, Sear Sound) and with Andrew Cyrille, plus trios with Cyrille and Pete Rende on synthesizer (December 2013, Brooklyn Recording). Produced by Sun Chung.

Vijay Iyer Trio (Iyer, piano; Stephan Crump, double bass; Marcus Gilmore, drums), the group's first ECM album: Iyer originals with Monk, Strayhorn and Coltrane, recorded June 2014 at Avatar Studios, New York, produced by Manfred Eicher.

Julia Hülsmann Quartet (Hülsmann, piano; Tom Arthurs, trumpet, flugelhorn; Marc Muellbauer, bass; Heinrich Köbberling, drums) with singer Theo Bleckmann: songs by Kurt Weill and three Whitman settings by Hülsmann, recorded June 2014 at Rainbow Studio…

Fifth album by the Norwegian trio Jøkleba (Per Jørgensen, trumpet, voice; Jon Balke, piano, electronics; Audun Kleive, drums, electronics) and its first for ECM: free collective pieces recorded in May 2014 at Madstun and Rainbow Studio, Oslo.

Solo violin recital by Dominique Pifarély, improvised pieces dedicated to poets plus Victor Young's My Foolish Heart, recorded in concert at Poitiers (2012) and Argenteuil (February 2013); produced by Manfred Eicher.

Mathias Eick's third ECM album, eight originals on Norwegian emigration to the Midwest, with Gjermund Larsen (violin), Jon Balke (piano), Mats Eilertsen (double bass) and Helge Norbakken (percussion). Recorded May 2014 at Rainbow Studio, Oslo; produc…

Swedish-Japanese trio of Anders Jormin (double bass), Lena Willemark (voice, fiddle, viola) and Karin Nakagawa (25-string koto), with poems sung in Älvdalen dialect. Recorded May 2013 at Konstepidemin, Göteborg; executive producer Manfred Eicher.

Second ECM album by the Giovanni Guidi Trio: Giovanni Guidi (piano), Thomas Morgan (double bass), João Lobo (drums), with nine Guidi originals, a Lobo piece and two standards. Recorded April 2014 at Auditorio Stelio Molo RSI, Lugano; produced by Manf…

Second ECM album by singer Elina Duni with Colin Vallon (piano), Patrice Moret (double bass) and Norbert Pfammatter (drums): Albanian traditional songs of love and exile. Recorded July 2014 at Studios La Buissonne, Pernes-les-Fontaines; produced by M…

Fourth ECM album by the Marcin Wasilewski Trio (Wasilewski piano, Sławomir Kurkiewicz double bass, Michał Miśkiewicz drums) with Swedish tenor saxophonist Joakim Milder. Recorded March 2014 at Auditorio RSI, Lugano; produced by Manfred Eicher.

Live reunion of AACM associates Jack DeJohnette, Muhal Richard Abrams, Roscoe Mitchell and Henry Threadgill, with Larry Gray, recorded 29 August 2013 at the Pritzker Pavilion, Millennium Park, during the 35th Chicago Jazz Festival.

Michael Mantler's 2013 reworking of his 1968 Jazz Composer's Orchestra music, played live at Porgy & Bess, Vienna, by the Nouvelle Cuisine Big Band under Christoph Cech, with radio.string.quartet.vienna, guitarist Bjarne Roupé and Mantler on trumpet.

Gianluigi Trovesi (clarinets, alto saxophone) with Stefano Montanari and a period-instrument ensemble in music by Purcell, Dufay, Trabaci, Josquin and others, plus Trovesi originals and duets with Fulvio Maras. Recorded January 2014 in Cremona.

Kenny Wheeler's last album: nine of his compositions played on flugelhorn with Stan Sulzmann, John Parricelli, Chris Laurence and Martin France. Recorded December 2013 at Abbey Road Studios, London; produced by Manfred Eicher and Steve Lake.

First album by Chris Potter's eleven-piece Underground Orchestra (reeds, guitar, piano, vibes, two basses, drums, strings), with Craig Taborn, Adam Rogers, Steve Nelson and Mark Feldman. Recorded December 2013 at Avatar Studios, New York; produced by…

ECM leader debut of Cuban pianist David Virelles: ten pieces drawing on Abakuá ritual music, with Román Díaz (biankoméko, voice), Marcus Gilmore (drums) and bassists Thomas Morgan and Robert Hurst. Recorded December 2013, Avatar Studios, New York; pr…

First ECM solo album by Italian pianist Glauco Venier, music for piano and percussion: his own pieces and adaptations of Gurdjieff, Komitas, Dufay and Alessandra Franco, with gongs, bells and sound sculptures by Harry Bertoia and Giorgio Celiberti. R…

First ECM album by the Nils Økland Band: Økland (Hardanger fiddle, violin, viola d'amore) with Sigbjørn Apeland, Mats Eilertsen, Håkon Mørch Stene and Rolf-Erik Nystrøm. Recorded June 2012 in Hoff Church, Østre Toten, Norway.