Jazz & Improvisation / All styles

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.

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.

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.

Korean children's songs, lullabies and improvised pieces by singer Yeahwon Shin with pianist Aaron Parks and accordionist Rob Curto, recorded May 2012 at Mechanics Hall, Worcester, Massachusetts, produced by Sun Chung. Shin's ECM debut.

Second ECM album by the Billy Hart Quartet, with Mark Turner (tenor saxophone), Ethan Iverson (piano) and Ben Street (double bass), playing pieces by Hart, Turner and Iverson plus one standard. Recorded April-May 2013 at Avatar Studios, New York.

Third ECM album by Norma Winstone (voice), Glauco Venier (piano) and Klaus Gesing (bass clarinet, soprano saxophone): originals plus songs by Nick Drake, Fred Neil, Tom Waits and others. Recorded December 2012 at the RSI Auditorio, Lugano.

First album by the Craig Taborn Trio, with Thomas Morgan on double bass and Gerald Cleaver on drums, playing nine Taborn compositions. Recorded in June 2012 at Avatar Studios, New York, produced by Manfred Eicher.

Third ECM album by Susanne Abbuehl: settings of Emily Dickinson, Emily Brontë, Sara Teasdale, Wallace Stevens and her own lyrics, with Wolfert Brederode, Matthieu Michel and Olavi Louhivuori. Recorded in summer 2012 at Studios La Buissonne, Pernes-les-Fontaines.

Ralph Alessi's first ECM album as a leader: ten original compositions plus a reprise, played with Jason Moran, Drew Gress and Nasheet Waits. Recorded in October 2012 at Avatar Studios, New York, produced by Manfred Eicher.

Debut album of the bass-less Swiss-Italian trio Third Reel: Nicolas Masson (tenor saxophone, clarinet), Roberto Pianca (guitar), Emanuele Maniscalco (drums), sixteen composed and improvised pieces. Recorded February 2012 at the Auditorio RSI, Lugano.

Live duo recording by Lucian Ban (piano) and Mat Maneri (viola): pieces by Ban and Maneri, a joint improvisation and the spiritual Nobody Knows the Trouble I've Seen. Recorded 5 June 2011 at the Culture Palace, Târgu Mureș, Transylvania.

Guitar trio album by Ralph Towner (classical and 12-string guitar), Wolfgang Muthspiel (electric guitar, voice) and Slava Grigoryan (classical and baritone guitar), with five pieces each by Towner and Muthspiel. Recorded August 2012 at the Auditorio RSI, Lugano.

Studio album by Arild Andersen (double bass, electronics), Tommy Smith (tenor saxophone, shakuhachi) and Paolo Vinaccia (drums), mostly Andersen originals plus Bacharach's Alfie, recorded December 2012 at Rainbow Studio, Oslo, produced by Manfred Eicher. ECM 2307, 2014.

Julia Hülsmann's trio with Marc Muellbauer and Heinrich Köbberling becomes a quartet with English trumpeter Tom Arthurs: band originals plus Feist, Fumi Udo and de Falla, recorded June 2012 at Rainbow Studio, Oslo, produced by Manfred Eicher. ECM 2306, 2013.

Ketil Bjørnstad's eight-part suite inspired by Michelangelo Antonioni, commissioned by and recorded live at the Molde International Jazz Festival on 21 July 2010, with Andy Sheppard, Anja Lechner, Eivind Aarset, Arild Andersen and Marilyn Mazur. ECM 2300, 2013.

Enrico Rava with the twelve-piece Parco della Musica Jazz Lab plays Michael Jackson songs in arrangements by Mauro Ottolini, recorded live at the Auditorium Parco della Musica, Rome, on 20 May and 30 November 2011. Produced by Manfred Eicher. ECM 2293, 2012.