Jazz & Improvisation / All styles

Third ECM album by the Colin Vallon Trio: Colin Vallon (piano), Patrice Moret (double bass), Julian Sartorius (drums). Recorded in 2016 at Auditorio Stelio Molo RSI, Lugano, engineered by Stefano Amerio and produced by Manfred Eicher.

Solo album by Ralph Towner on classical and 12-string guitar: eleven of his own pieces, two from the Oregon book, and the standard My Foolish Heart. Recorded February 2016 at Auditorio Stelio Molo RSI, Lugano; produced by Manfred Eicher.

Second ECM album by Austrian guitarist Wolfgang Muthspiel, in a quintet with Ambrose Akinmusire, Brad Mehldau, Larry Grenadier and Brian Blade. Nine Muthspiel originals and one Mehldau tune, recorded January-February 2016 at Studios La Buissonne; produced by Manfred Eicher.

ECM leader debut of singer and composer Theo Bleckmann, with Ben Monder (guitar), Shai Maestro (piano), Chris Tordini (double bass) and John Hollenbeck (drums): originals, a Sondheim song and a Chiao Jan poem. Recorded January 2016, Avatar Studios, New York; produced by Manfred Eicher.

First trio recording by Louis Sclavis (clarinets), Dominique Pifarély (violin) and Vincent Courtois (cello), with compositions by all three and collective improvisation. Recorded September 2016 at Studios La Buissonne, Pernes-les-Fontaines; produced by Manfred Eicher.

Second ECM leader album by Danish guitarist Jakob Bro, in trio with Thomas Morgan (double bass) and Joey Baron (drums): six Bro pieces and the collective improvisation PM Dream. Recorded November 2015, Studios La Buissonne, Pernes-les-Fontaines; produced by Manfred Eicher.

Piano trio album by Aaron Parks with Ben Street (double bass) and Billy Hart (drums): eight Parks originals and Ian Bernard's Find the Way. Recorded October 2015 at Studios La Buissonne, Pernes-les-Fontaines; produced by Manfred Eicher.

Carla Bley's trio with Andy Sheppard (saxophones) and Steve Swallow (bass guitar) plays new Bley compositions, including the three-part title suite. Recorded November 2015 at Auditorio Stelio Molo RSI, Lugano, produced by Manfred Eicher.

Duo album by Vijay Iyer (piano, Fender Rhodes, electronics) and Wadada Leo Smith (trumpet), centred on a seven-part suite for the Indian artist Nasreen Mohamedi. Recorded 17-19 October 2015 at Avatar Studios, New York, produced by Manfred Eicher.

Michael Formanek's first big-band album, written for his 18-piece Ensemble Kolossus with Tim Berne, Ralph Alessi, Mary Halvorson, Kris Davis and others, conducted by Mark Helias. Recorded December 2014 at Systems Two, Brooklyn.

Michel Benita's ECM leader debut with his group Ethics: Matthieu Michel (flugelhorn), Mieko Miyazaki (koto), Eivind Aarset (guitar, electronics) and Philippe Garcia (drums). Recorded April 2015 at Auditorio Stelio Molo RSI, Lugano, produced by Manfred Eicher.

Avishai Cohen's ECM leader debut, a suite written after his father's death in 2014, with Yonathan Avishai, Eric Revis, Nasheet Waits and Bill McHenry. Recorded July 2015 at Studios La Buissonne, produced by Manfred Eicher.

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 Eicher.

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 Manfred Eicher.

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 in following sessions.

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 Manfred Eicher.

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 Balke and Manfred Eicher.

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; produced by David Torn.

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; produced by Manfred Eicher.

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 Eicher.

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.