Jazz & Improvisation / All styles

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 Manfred Eicher.

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 Eicher.

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, Oslo.

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; produced by Manfred Eicher.

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 Manfred Eicher.

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 Manfred Eicher.

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 Manfred Eicher.

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; produced by Manfred Eicher.

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. Recorded December 2013, Lugano.

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.

Third ECM album by Israeli pianist Anat Fort, with her trio of Gary Wang (double bass) and Roland Schneider (drums) and guest Gianluigi Trovesi on alto clarinet. Recorded November 2013 at Auditorio Stelio Molo RSI, Lugano; produced by Manfred Eicher.

Fourth ECM album by Norwegian kantele player and singer Sinikka Langeland, with Lars Anders Tomter (viola), Trygve Seim (tenor saxophone) and Markku Ounaskari (percussion); three songs set Tomas Tranströmer. Recorded January 2013, Rainbow Studio, Oslo.

Solo piano concert by Paul Bley, four of his own compositions and Sonny Rollins's Pent-Up House as encore. Recorded live in August 2008 at Kulturkirken Jakob during the Oslo Jazz Festival by Jan Erik Kongshaug; produced by Manfred Eicher.

Vijay Iyer's first ECM album as leader: the suite Mutations I-X for string quartet (Miranda Cuckson, Michi Wiancko, Kyle Armbrust, Kivie Cahn-Lipman), piano and electronics, framed by solo pieces. Recorded September 2013 at Avatar Studios, New York.

Dino Saluzzi (bandoneon) with his family band: Félix Saluzzi (tenor sax, clarinet), José María Saluzzi (guitars), Matías Saluzzi (basses), plus Nicolás Brizuela (guitar) and Quintino Cinalli (drums). Recorded March-May 2013 at Saluzzi Music Studio, Buenos Aires.

Third ECM album by guitarist Jacob Young, all his own compositions, with saxophonist Trygve Seim and the Marcin Wasilewski Trio (Slawomir Kurkiewicz, Michal Miskiewicz). Recorded August 2013 at Rainbow Studio, Oslo; produced by Manfred Eicher.

Miroslav Vitous revisits Weather Report repertoire with a sextet of two saxophonists (Gary Campbell, Roberto Bonisolo), two drummers (Gerald Cleaver, Nasheet Waits) and keyboards. Recorded 2010-2011 at Universal Syncopations Studios, Clavesana.

As wonderful is his duo with compatriot Cor Fuhler, who, like Prins, has gradually progressed from Bimhuis improv into electronic experimentation. This is a quite befuddling duo (as on Live, Prins utilises electronics, FM modulations and radio; Fuhler employs EMS Synthi AKS, turntables and mbiras), whose interaction is in a constant state of flux, and one whose ideas flow so liberally and create music which is at times so disorientating that it feels as though one is listening to it through some…

Eleven-part suite by the Swiss duo Vera Kappeler (piano, harmonium, toy piano, voice) and Peter Conradin Zumthor (drums, toy piano, voice), commissioned for the Origen Festival Cultural after the Book of Daniel. Recorded June 2013 at the RSI Auditorio, Lugano; produced by Manfred Eicher.

Nine new compositions by Italian pianist Stefano Bollani for a quintet with Mark Turner (tenor saxophone), Bill Frisell (guitar), Jesper Bodilsen (double bass) and Morten Lund (drums). Recorded June 2013 at Avatar Studios, New York; produced by Manfred Eicher.

Matchless Recordings presents a live concert by Conditions recorded at Gateway Studios Kingston-upon-Thames Surrey England 16th November 2002 and 2nd March 2003. The album includes six tracks performed by John Edwards - Double Bass, Eddie Prévost - Drums, Alex James - Piano, Nathaniel Catchpole - Tenor Saxophone, Jamie Coleman - Trumpet.

Sixth ECM album by Norwegian pianist Tord Gustavsen, the third by his quartet with Tore Brunborg (tenor saxophone), Mats Eilertsen (double bass) and Jarle Vespestad (drums). Recorded June 2013 at Rainbow Studio, Oslo; produced by Manfred Eicher.

First ECM album as leader by tenor saxophonist Mark Turner, a pianoless quartet with Avishai Cohen (trumpet), Joe Martin (double bass) and Marcus Gilmore (drums), playing six Turner originals. Recorded June 2013 at Avatar Studios, New York; produced by Manfred Eicher.

Trio album by Austrian guitarist Wolfgang Muthspiel (acoustic and electric guitar) with Larry Grenadier (double bass) and Brian Blade (drums), his first ECM album as leader. Recorded May 2013 at Rainbow Studio, Oslo; produced by Manfred Eicher; released 2014.

Duo album by accordionist Jean-Louis Matinier and nyckelharpa player Marco Ambrosini: original pieces and arrangements of Bach, Biber and Pergolesi. Recorded April 2013 at the Auditorio Radiotelevisione svizzera, Lugano, produced by Manfred Eicher.

Songs and improvisations on Pergolesi's Stabat Mater and opera arias, sung in Neapolitan by Maria Pia De Vito with François Couturier (piano), Anja Lechner (cello) and Michele Rabbia (percussion, electronics). Recorded December 2012 in Lugano, produced by Manfred Eicher.

Second ECM album by Tim Berne's Snakeoil: Berne (alto sax), Oscar Noriega (clarinets), Matt Mitchell (piano) and Ches Smith (drums, vibraphone). Recorded January 2013 at the Clubhouse, New York, produced by Berne and David Torn.