Voice
Trickster Orchestra
The 23-piece Trickster Orchestra, founded in Berlin in 2013 and led by singer Cymin Samawatie and percussionist Ketan Bhatti, with Wu Wei (sheng), Naoko Kikuchi (koto) and others. Texts in Farsi, Hebrew, Arabic and Turkish. Recorded January 2019, Meistersaal, Berlin.
Lost Ships
Songs of love and exile by singer Elina Duni and guitarist Rob Luft, with Fred Thomas (piano, drums) and Matthieu Michel (flugelhorn). Recorded February 2020 at Studios La Buissonne, Pernes-les-Fontaines; produced by Manfred Eicher.
Wolf Rune
Solo album by Norwegian singer and kantele player Sinikka Langeland: rune songs, folk hymns, dances and settings of Eckhart, Hauge and Fosse, for voice and three kanteles. Recorded December 2019 at Rainbow Studio, Oslo. ECM 2674, 2021.
Bayou
Debut album by the trio of Thomas Strønen (drums, percussion), Ayumi Tanaka (piano) and Marthe Lea (clarinet, voice, percussion), collectively improvised apart from a Norwegian folk tune, recorded August 2018 at Auditorio Stelio Molo RSI, Lugano, produced by Manfred Eicher.
Partir
First solo album by singer Elina Duni (voice, piano, guitar, percussion): twelve traditional and authored songs about leaving, in nine languages. Recorded July 2017 at Studios La Buissonne, Pernes-les-Fontaines; produced by Manfred Eicher.
Beyond The Borders
Maria Farantouri (voice) and Cihan Türkoğlu (saz, kopuz, voice) with Anja Lechner, Meri Vardanyan, Christos Barbas and İzzet Kızıl: traditional songs from Greece, Turkey, Lebanon and Armenia and new songs, recorded June 2017 at Sierra Studios, Athens.
Ravensburg
Sextet album by Norwegian trumpeter Mathias Eick with Håkon Aase (violin), Andreas Ulvo (piano), Audun Erlien (electric bass), Torstein Lofthus and Helge Andreas Norbakken (drums), recorded June 2017 at Rainbow Studio, Oslo, produced by Manfred Eicher.
Siwan - Nahnou Houm
Second ECM album by Jon Balke's Siwan, with Algerian singer Mona Boutchebak, Derya Türkan (kemençe), Helge Norbakken and Pedram Khavar Zamini (percussion) and strings of Barokksolistene, setting poetry of Al Andalus. Recorded January 2017 in Copenhagen.
Inland Sea
Solo album by Stephan Micus, his 22nd for ECM: ten original pieces led by the Swedish nyckelharpa, with balanzikom, shakuhachi, genbri, chord and bass zithers, steel-string guitar and voice, all played by Micus and recorded 2014-2016 at MCM Studios.
Near East Quartet
ECM debut of the Korean Near East Quartet: Sungjae Son (tenor saxophone, bass clarinet), Suwuk Chung (guitar), Yulhee Kim (voice, percussion), Soojin Suh (drums). Five Son originals and three Korean traditionals, recorded December 2016 at Stradeum, Seoul; produced by Sun Chung.
Descansado - Songs for Film
Norma Winstone (voice) with Klaus Gesing (soprano saxophone, bass clarinet) and Glauco Venier (piano), plus Helge Andreas Norbakken (percussion) and Mario Brunello (cello), in film music. Recorded March 2017 at ArteSuono Studio, Udine; produced by Manfred Eicher.
Comment c'est
Song cycle in ten parts by Michael Mantler (trumpet, music and French texts), sung by Himiko Paganotti with the Max Brand Ensemble conducted by Christoph Cech. Recorded April 2016 at Porgy & Bess, Vienna, with additional recording at La Buissonne. ECM 2537, 2017.
Gnosis
Eighteen pieces by Cuban pianist David Virelles for piano, Román Díaz's voice and percussion and the Nosotros Ensemble of strings, woodwinds and percussion, with Thomas Morgan on bass. Recorded May 2016 at Avatar Studios, New York; produced by Manfred Eicher.
Nightfall
Second album by Quercus: June Tabor (voice), Iain Ballamy (tenor and soprano saxophones) and Huw Warren (piano) in British folk songs, standards, Dylan and two originals. Recorded December 2015 at Cooper Hall, Frome; produced by Warren and Ballamy.
Rímur
Chants, hymns and folk songs from Icelandic, Norwegian and Swedish sources, sung by Trio Mediaeval (Anna Maria Friman, Linn Andrea Fuglseth, Berit Opheim) with Arve Henriksen on trumpet. Recorded February 2016 in Munich; produced by Manfred Eicher.
Elegy
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.
Resonances
First album by Marco Ambrosini's Ensemble Supersonus (nyckelharpa, kannel, overtone voice and harp, jew's harp, harpsichord and square piano): early music, folk, Ottoman and original pieces. Recorded November 2015, Auditorio Stelio Molo RSI, Lugano; produced by Manfred Eicher.
Action / Réaction
Daniel Scheidt's software compositions of 1986 to 1990, in which an interactive computer system listens and responds to improvising soloists: percussionist Trevor Tureski, clarinettists Claude Schryer and Lori Freedman, soprano Catherine Lewis and trombonist George E Lewis.
What was said
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.
Rumi Songs
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.