EDWARD VESALA — Nan Madol (1976) FLAC (tracks+.cue), lossless

Finnish percussionist Edward Vesala’s debut on ECM Records may also be his most fiery outing for the label. On the album, Vesala assembles a particularly lively big band of Finns, who interpret his music with blazing colours. In 1976, when the album was released, Melody Maker suggested that “John Coltrane might have made music like this had he been born a European. ‘Nad Madol’ is an orgy of sound, no other description can suffice and ‘Areous Vlor Ta’ remains one of the most extraordinary and moving big band scorings…. Put it next to ‘Ascension’ in your collection.” ECM
Tracklist :
1    Nan Madol    6:02
2    Love For Living    3:47
3    Call From The Sea    1:58
4    The Way Of...    12:09
5    Areous Vlor Ta    12:39
6    The Wind    9:23
Credits :
Alto Saxophone, Nadaswaram [Nagaswaram] – Charlie Mariano (tracks: 5)
Bass Clarinet – Pentti Lahti (tracks: 6)
Drums (tracks: 1, 4 to 6), Flute [Flutes] (tracks: 1), Harp [Harps] (tracks: 2), Percussion (tracks: 1, 3, 6), Composed By, Arranged By, – Edward Vesala
Double Bass – Teppo Hauta-aho (tracks: 1, 4 to 6)
Flute – Charlie Mariano (tracks: 6), Sakari Kukko (tracks: 1), Seppo Paakkunainen (tracks: 6)
Flute, Bells, Voice – Juhani Aaltonen (tracks: 6)
Harp – Elisabeth Leistola (tracks: 4)
Piccolo Flute – Juhani Aaltonen (tracks: 4)
Soprano Saxophone – Juhani Aaltonen (tracks: 1, 2), Pentti Lahti (tracks: 5), Seppo Paakkunainen (tracks: 5)
Tenor Saxophone – Juhani Aaltonen (tracks: 4, 5)
Trombone – Mircea Stan (tracks: 5)
Trumpet – Kaj Backlund (tracks: 1, 4, 5)
Viola [Alto Violin] – Juhani Poutanen (tracks: 1)
Violin – Juhani Poutanen (tracks: 1, 4, 5)
Voice – Teppo Hauta-aho (tracks: 6)
Voice, Bells – Juhani Poutanen (tracks: 6)

ANDREW CYRILLE | WADADA LEO SMITH | BILL FRISELL — Lebroba (2018) FLAC (tracks+.cue), lossless

Lebroba, Andrew Cyrille's second leader date for ECM, finds the septuagenarian rhythm explorer trading in all but guitarist Bill Frisell from the quartet that recorded 2016's fine The Declaration of Musical Independence (with bassist Ben Street and pianist Richard Teitelbaum). This bass-less trio also features trumpeter/composer Wadada Leo Smith. While this setting is somewhat unusual, Frisell is quite familiar with it, performing in this same setting on Ron Miles' 2014 offering Circuit Rider. Back in 2010, the guitarist led another unusual trio for Beautiful Dreamers with sidemen Eyvind Kang on viola and Rudy Royston on drums.
In fact, this set's opener is a redo of the guitarist's "Worried Woman," from the latter album, a lithe charmer of a melody wherein Frisell envelops himself in a call-and-response conversation on the lyric with Smith's as Cyrille colors time around the beat rather than on it. The longest piece here is Smith's nearly formless "Turiya: Alice Coltrane Meditations and Dreams: Love" at over 17 minutes. The tune is mostly "free," though the trumpeter, in true signature fashion, sketches out spaces for emphasis on dialogic exchanges that evolve from melodic fragments to dissonance and back again, with Cyrille's colorful, textured rhythmic pulses bridging the gap between frontline players. Despite the fragmented nature of the piece, the intuitive interplay between the trio's members is canny, welcoming, and thoroughly enjoyable. Cyrille's title track is based on an eight-bar blues, but it's a chameleon-like work. There are lyric aspects that recall Charles Mingus' "Good-Bye Pork Pie Hat," but Smith's soulful, muted trumpet abstractions -- ever the picture of tasteful economy -- highlight and underscore Frisell's turnarounds and expressionist reflections of deep blue Americana from the Delta to Chicago. The five-plus-minute "TGD" is credited to the group, commencing with Cyrille's dancing snares and whispering cymbals through Frisell's effects-laden soloing and sonic smears and fills and Smith's interrogatory improvisation above and around the paying of his bandmates. The only complaint is that given the nearly symbiotic nature of communication in this improvisation, the track doesn’t go on long enough. The juxtaposition of Frisell's subtly shaded chordal voicings and long single notes by Smith in the intro to the drummer's closing rubato ballad, "Pretty Beauty," are breathtakingly poignant. Cyrille's hushed and spacious use of brushes around the lyric line, highlight its dips and subtle assertions, which are exchanged by guitarist and trumpeter to create an achingly beautiful groupspeak that seemingly creates a narrative language from air. While much of Lebroba is gentle, none of it is nebulous or speculative. This trio engages in the kind of magical interplay that only extremely experienced players can conjure.
-> This comment is posted on Allmusic by Thom Jurek, follower of our blog 'O Púbis da Rosa' <-
Tracklist :
1    Worried Woman 7:35
Music By – Bill Frisell
2    Turiya:Alice Coltrane / Meditations And Dreams:Love 17:24
Music By – Wadada Leo Smith
3    Lebroba 5:44
Music By – Andrew Cyrille
4    TGD 5:17
Music By – Andrew Cyrille, Bill Frisell, Wadada Leo Smith
5    Pretty Beauty 6:24
Music By – Andrew Cyrille
Credits :
Drums – Andrew Cyrille
Guitar – Bill Frisell
Trumpet – Wadada Leo Smith

VIJAY IYER | CRAIG TABORN — The Transitory Poems (2019) FLAC (tracks+.cue), lossless

Despite distinctive individual approaches to composition and improvisation, jazz pianists Vijay Iyer and Craig Taborn are kindred spirits. They are celebrated as innovators and stylists, are approximately the same age, and most importantly, share an important foundational experience playing in Roscoe Mitchell's Note Factory together in the early years of the century, recording the album Song for My Sister.

Transitory Poems documents a 2018 live concert at the Franz Liszt Academy in Budapest. In his brief liner notes, Iyer states that they documented their performance in the aftermath of a 12-month period that saw the passing of pianists Cecil Taylor, Muhal Richard Abrams, and Geri Allen, and the cosmological abstract expressionist painter and sculptor Jack Whitten, whose work was deeply influenced by John Coltrane. The title of the album comes from an interview quote by Taylor. Opener "Life Line (Seven Tensions)" is a 13-minute exercise in flow that reveals without doubt that the two men are not merely "jamming," but spontaneously composing together. In varying shades of light and dark they interact with adroit single lines and contrapuntal chord voicings as they engage in everything from modern classical music to speculative moments of inquiring repose and angular boogie-woogie. "Sensorium," dedicated to Whitten, is a short, four-minute work that layers fleet counterpoint in abstraction in a manner that evokes the ghost trace of the artist whose signature method was the immediate yet systemic way he layered acrylic paint. "Kairos" downshifts, examining the sparsity of sound as it intersects with silence, with insertions of precise melodic interpolation that eventually claim the fore as tight rhythmic chords entwine in a dance that unfurls in narrative space. "S.H.A.R.D.S." begins similarly, but gradually engages jazz motivics and sharp rhythmic statements to unfurl in a whirlwind of four-handed playing alongside a bluesy Motorik pulse. The final three works are all dedications. "Clear Monolith" for Abrams is nearly 11 minutes and commences with sparse staccato statements in lower and upper registers simultaneously with minimal, bell-like responses on single keys. In the middle section, animated movement asserts chorded tonal inquiry balanced by crystalline space. "Luminous Brew" is dedicated to Taylor and emerges as if it has always been there. The deep register of the bass keys rumble ominously as open modal chords add dimensionality to their voice. Flitting moments of ragtime and Ellingtonia and are woven into the forceful yet elegant unfolding as chromatics and expanded harmonics create a mysterious homage. Closer "Meshwork/Libation/When Kabuya Dances," dedicated to Allen, asserts itself with articulate force and contrapuntal energy as stacked arpeggios meet precise bass notes and chords before erecting a galloping call and response that slowly evaporates as it introduces Allen's shimmering, tender, playful "When Kabuya Dances." Transitory Poems is a wonderful recording. The energy, ideas, and instinctive musicality of Iyer and Taborn is full of surprises, canny camaraderie, deft techniques, understatement, and symbiotic difference; they combine to add immeasurably to the all-too-slim catalog of duo albums in the jazz piano tradition.
-> This comment is posted on Allmusic by Thom Jurek, follower of our blog 'O Púbis da Rosa' <-
Tracklist :
1    Life Line (Seven Tensions) 13:02
Composed By – Craig Taborn, Vijay Iyer
2    Sensorium 4:17
Composed By – Craig Taborn, Vijay Iyer
3    Kairòs 8:56
Composed By – Craig Taborn, Vijay Iyer
4    S.H.A.R.D.S. 9:11
Composed By – Craig Taborn, Vijay Iyer
5    Shake Down 6:40
Composed By – Craig Taborn, Vijay Iyer
6    Clear Monolith 10:46
Composed By – Craig Taborn, Vijay Iyer
7    Luminous Brew 8:17
Composed By – Craig Taborn, Vijay Iyer
Meshwork / Libation / When Kabuya Dances    (12:48)
8.1    Meshwork
Composed By – Vijay Iyer, Craig Taborn
8.2    Libation
Composed By – Vijay Iyer, Craig Taborn
8.3    When Kabuya Dances
Composed By – Geri Allen
Credits :
Piano – Craig Taborn, Vijay Iyer
Producer [Produced By] – Manfred Eicher

MARKUS STOCKHAUSEN | ARILD ANDERSEN | PATRICE HÉRAL | TERJE RYPDAL — Kartā (2000) FLAC (tracks+.cue), lossless

This end-of-the-millennium quartet session probably best defines all the inherent contradictions in who ECM attracts to the label -- what kind of musician records for them -- and what concerns these artists and ECM's chief producer (and creator) Manfred Eicher hold in common. This set, although clearly fronted by Markus Stockhausen and Arild Andersen on brass and bass, respectively, allows space for the entire quartet to inform its direction. Héral and Rypdal are not musicians who can play with just anybody; their distinctive styles and strengths often go against the grain of contemporary European jazz and improvised music. Of the 11 compositions here, four are collectively written, with two each by Andersen and Stockhausen. "Flower of the Now" uses space and texture to create a harmonic architecture, skeletal though it may be. Stockhausen states a theme that acts as the syntax for the painterly drumming of Héral and Rypdal's interlocution between all the drifting parties. "Sway" begins with Héral's trans-African drumming, followed by the fury of Rypdal's own brand of guitar improvisation. He edges through musical frameworks of the past in rock, blues, and jazz, cutting them down in the process of playing knotty arpeggios and deconstructed riffs that rely on harmonic rather than lyrical language. When Stockhausen moves into the fray, it's sparingly in stark contrast to Rypdal's splatter and roll methodology and brings things to a near halt, with only Andersen to slip a groove through the band's abstractions. This is a record of "sonics," an area not unlike the forbidden "Zone" filmmaker Andrei Tarkovsky's hero, who guides people through in the film Stalker -- forbidden, wasted, and beautifully desolate. When listeners reach the place in "Auma" where Andersen's bass employs electronic devices to give it an "orchestra" or chamber section quality, they can hear how attentive this crew really is to one another. They move about slowly and purposefully in the musical spheres where sound, language, and harmonic monoliths all give way into something less definite, less shapely or contoured in favor of the unspeakable, the unmentionable, the inarticulate speech of the heart as it enters, through sound's language: one of tension, dynamic, nuance, and texture, the various places where spoken language fails so miserably. In all, Karta is an effort that showcases the very best of its collective: It contains aesthetic grace and elegance as well as great violence and chaos. For all the recordings in "popular" music made at the end of the century, this is the one that sums up best where Western music has traveled these last hundred years, and points to just how far it yet needs to journey in the next thousand. Karta is soulful, tender, and frightening.
-> This comment is posted on Allmusic by Thom Jurek, follower of our blog 'O Púbis da Rosa' <-
Tracklist :
1    Sezopen 4:50
Composed By – Andersen
2    Flower Of Now 9:15
Composed By – Stockhausen
3    Wood And Naphta 2:55
Composed By – Andersen, Stockhausen, Héral, Rypdal
4    Sway 4:24
Composed By – Andersen, Stockhausen, Héral, Rypdal
5    Auma 8:02
Composed By – Andersen, Stockhausen, Héral, Rypdal
6    Legacy 5:18
Composed By – Andersen, Stockhausen, Héral, Rypdal
7    Invocation 4:44
Composed By – Andersen, Stockhausen, Héral, Rypdal
8    Wild Cat 7:57
Composed By – Andersen, Stockhausen, Héral, Rypdal
9    Emanation
Composed By – Andersen, Stockhausen, Héral, Rypdal
10    Choral 3:57
Composed By – Stockhausen
11    Lighthouse 8:40
Composed By – Andersen
Credits :
Double Bass – Arild Andersen
Drums, Percussion, Electronics [Live Electronics] – Patrice Héral
Electric Guitar – Terje Rypdal
Producer – Manfred Eicher
Trumpet, Flugelhorn, Piccolo Trumpet – Markus Stockhausen

GIANLUIGI TROVESI OTTETTO — Fugace (2003) FLAC (image+.cue) lossless

Italian composer and clarinet master Gianluigi Trovesi has realized his own dream. For over a decade his recordings have included bits and pieces of the American jazz and blues he heard as a child and led him down the path from Bergamo to the world's jazz stages. But Fugace is different. Here, Trovesi and his octet create a veritable soundtrack to a film from the composer's imagination. They pay a great tribute to early American jazz, the kind found rolling down the streets of New Orleans in the teens and early '20s by Louis Armstrong, Sidney Bechet, Jelly Roll Morton, and W.C. Handy. But this is no New Orleans tribute album in the usual sense. Trovesi has incorporated, like his countryman Nino Rota, the traditional folk song and dance forms of Italian music and allowed them to engage early American jazz on their own terms. Tarantellas and blues make great companions (or at least they do here), from the funeral marches evoked in "African Triptych" to the places where "Ramble" and "Blues and West" evoke Armstrong's "West End Blues" in a myriad of contrapuntal exchanges between horns and the rhythm section -- particularly the Trovesi clarinet and the double bass of Roberto Bonati, where long, restrained folk forms grace the 12 bars and free them. There's also the elegant, minimal, slippery swing of "Clumsy Dancing of the Fat Cat Bird," where electronics, cello, guitar, and trumpet vie for the center of a mix that gives way to a hard bop read of certain passages in "St. James Infirmary." In fact, based on this track, the title, and "Canto Di Lavorno," one can feel the influence of movie directors Michelangelo Antonioni and Pier Paolo Pasolini on Trovesi, utilizing music to create the space something will take place in rather than describe the action. From restrained to rollicking to nearly classical and reverent, Fugace is a special recording. It is the most forward-thinking and easily fully realized of Trovesi's distinguished body of work.
-> This comment is posted on Allmusic by Thom Jurek, follower of our blog 'O Púbis da Rosa' <-
Tracklist :
1    As Strange As A Ballad    3:41
Sogno D'Orfeo    (7:58)
2.1    Andante Maest(r)oso    
2.2    Allegretto Giocoso
African Triptych    
3    Wide Lake    5:11
4    Scarlet Dunes    2:46
5    Western Dream    3:46
6    Canto Di Lavoro    4:31
7    Clumsy Dancing Of The Fat Bird    1:38
8    Siparietto I    2:29
9    Blues And West    5:24
10    Siparietto II    0:59
Il Domatore    (6:16)
11.1    Senza Tigre    
11.2    Con Il Leone    
Ramble    (5:05)
12.1    Oh, Didn't He Ramble    
12.2    She's Straight    
13    Siparietto III    1:24
14    Fugace    1:09
15    Siparietto IV    1:44
Totò Nei Caraibi    (5:51)
16.1    Alla Fiera    
16.2    Andan-Tina    
16.3    Totolypso
Credits :
Alto Saxophone, Clarinet [Piccolo Clarinet], Alto Clarinet – Gianluigi Trovesi
Arranged By – Zucchi (tracks: 16), Gianluigi Trovesi, Remondini (tracks: 9, 16)
Cello, Electronics – Marco Remondini
Composed By – Gianluigi Trovesi (tracks: 1 to 11, 12.2, 13 to 15, 16.2, 16.3), Traditional (tracks: 16.1), William C. Handy (tracks: 12.1)
Double Bass – Roberto Bonati
Double Bass, Electric Bass – Marco Micheli
Drums – Vittorio Marinoni
Percussion, Electronics – Fulvio Maras
Producer – Manfred Eicher
Trombone – Beppe Caruso
Trumpet, Electronics – Massimo Greco

KEITH JARRETT — Sun Bear Concerts (1978-1989) 6xCD BOX-SET | FLAC (tracks+.cue), lossless

During the 1970s, solo piano box sets were rare. When Keith Jarrett's monolithic, ten-LP solo box, Sun Bear Concerts, arrived from ECM in 1978, the only comparable collection was The Tatum Solo Masterpieces, a six-disc set of the pianist's '50s sides. Jarrett's five Japanese concerts from November of 1976 in Kyoto, Osaka, Nagoya, Tokyo, and Sapporo were completely improvised and gloriously recorded by engineer Okihiro Sugano. Most jazz critics greeted it as a seminal work that set Jarrett apart from his peers.

When he hits a mysterious minor ninth to open the first concert in Kyoto, all bets are off. For nearly 80 minutes he balances tension with release, the pastoral with the cosmopolitan. He asks harmonic questions and develops non-conclusive answers, and melds emotion, technique, and inspiration in a dazzling, deeply moving display of virtuosity and inexhaustible creativity. The Osaka concert commences with inquisitive lyrical ideas before spiraling off in several directions. He investigates swing, stride, blues, bop, vanguard modal interludes, folk traditions, and pop songs, and briefly evokes Aaron Copland. Jarrett creates cascading rhythmic pulses and expansive harmonies that elude genre and resist reduction. In Nagoya, classical motifs -- romantic and modernist -- are developed with a rich, inquisitive interior logic that never forsakes musicality, even when pursuing the Muse toward dissonance during the final third. In Tokyo, Jarrett meanders for a time, offering one musical ellipsis after another until 12 minutes in, when he slips through the boundary with a series of five-note clusters. Then he's off and running across jazz piano history, nodding at Vince Guaraldi, Dmitri Shostakovich, Lead Belly, Debussy, Jerome Kern, and others before stripping his process down to its essences. It's the most rewarding show in the set, though not necessarily the easiest to listen to. In Sapporo, Jarrett is effusive. He delves into non-Western harmonic approaches, explores the piano's lower-middle register exhaustively, and finds lyricism between empty and dissonant spaces. For over 75 minutes he punctuates these explorations with dramatic glee, and often hums along. The Sun Bear Concerts offers a pinnacle of jazz improvisation.
-> This comment is posted on Allmusic by Thom Jurek, follower of our blog 'O Púbis da Rosa' <-
Tracklist :
CD1 - Kyoto, November 5, 1976
CD2 - Osaka, November 8, 1976
CD3 - Nagoya, November 12, 1976
CD4 - Tokyo, November 14, 1976
CD5 - Sapporo, November 18, 1976
CD6 - Encores (Sapporo, Tokyo, Nagoya)
Credits :
Piano, Music By – Keith Jarrett
Producer – Manfred Eicher

STEVE KUHN — Non-Fiction (1978) Vinyl, LP | 24-96Hz | FLAC (tracks), lossless

An interesting set of inside/outside music with a bit more energy than the more stereotypical ECM set, this set of five originals is performed by pianist Steve Kuhn (who was really developing his own original sound around this time), Steve Slagle (heard on alto, soprano and flute), bassist Harvie Swartz, and drummer Bob Moses. This is a fine release that was soon overshadowed by Kuhn's collaborations with singer Sheila Jordan. Scott Yanow
Tracklist :
A1    Firewalk 8:00
Written-By – Harvie Swartz
A2    Random Thoughts 8:08
Written-By – Steve Kuhn
A3    A Dance With The Wind 5:48
Written-By – Harvie Swartz
B1    The Fruit Fly 5:54
Written-By – Steve Kuhn
B2    Alias Dash Grapey 11:57
Written-By – Steve Kuhn
Credits :
Bass – Harvie Swartz
Drums – Bob Moses
Piano, Percussion – Steve Kuhn
Producer – Manfred Eicher
Soprano Saxophone, Alto Saxophone, Flute, Percussion – Steve Slagle

STEVE KUHN — Life's Backward Glances : Solo and Quartet (2008) 3CD BOX-SET | Serie Old & New Masters Edition | FLAC (tracks+.cue), lossless

This collection brings together three much sought-after recordings by Steve Kuhn: the solo piano album “Ecstasy” (recorded 1974), and two quartet albums. “Motility” (1977) features the band of the same name with saxophonist Steve Slagle in the front line, while “Playground” (1979) is the album that introduced the Steve Kuhn-Sheila Jordan Quartet. Singer Jordan is of course one of the great jazz vocalists, and this was an inspired teaming. Kuhn himself is a superlative pianist of vast gifts; each of these recordings illuminates another aspect of his work. Of these three discs only “Ecstasy” was previously available on compact disc, and then only in Japan. “Motility” and “Playground” here receive their first CD releases. ECM
Tracklist :
(CD1) 1977 - Motility (ECM 2090)
1    The Rain Forest    6:20
2    Oceans In The Sky    5:07
3    Catherine    5:33
4    Bittersweet Passages    4:55
5    Deep Tango    7:28
6    Motility / The Child Is Gone    7:21
7    A Danse For One    3:00
8    Places I've Never Been    4:53
(CD2) 1979 - Playground (ECM 2091)
1    Tomorrow's Son    6:02
2    Gentle Thoughts    7:22
3    Poem For No. 15    7:08
4    The Zoo    4:32
5    Deep Tango    10:40
6    Life's Backward Glance    5:36
(CD3) 1974 - Ecstasy (ECM 2092)
1    Silver    8:53
2    Prelude In G    4:26
3    Ulla    7:23
4    Thoughts Of A Gentleman – The Saga Of Harrison Crabfeathers    12:16
5    Life's Backward Glance    4:50
Credits :
Double Bass – Harvie Swartz (tracks: 1-1 to 2-6)
Drums – Bob Moses (tracks: 2-1 to 2-6), Michael Smith (tracks: 1-1 to 1-8)
Executive-Producer – Manfred Eicher (tracks: 2-1 to 2-6)
Piano – Steve Kuhn
Soprano Saxophone, Alto Saxophone, Flute – Steve Slagle (tracks: 1-1 to 1-8)
Voice – Sheila Jordan (tracks: 2-1 to 2-6)

STEVE KUHN — Trance (1975) FLAC (tracks+.cue), lossless

Trance, Steve Kuhn's second recording for ECM, was actually recorded a mere ten days after Ecstasy, his solo piano debut for the label. Trance features Kuhn playing both electric and acoustic piano, bassist Steve Swallow, drummer Jack DeJohnette, and percussionist Sue Evans. Two of the album's compositions, "Silver" and "Life's Backward Glance," are re-recordings of tunes appearing on Ecstasy. Adventurous and wide open, Trance is a mixed bag full of knots, twists, and turns. While firmly in the jazz idiom, Kuhn also draws on classical sources (check his solo in "Squirt"), drawing on Luciano Berio and Olivier Messiaen as well as Cecil Taylor. Performed on electric piano, "Silver" is a chugging, repetitive riff with a Latin rhythm, and Kuhn swings it like mad as Swallow's bass pops and spits along the melodic line as well as the rhythmic undertone. This is jazz that touches on fusion, modal, and the new spirit of the music as ECM came into the 1970s as a player. There is restlessness and calm, tempestuousness and serenity, conflict and resolution, and -- above all -- creativity and vision.
-> This comment is posted on Allmusic by Thom Jurek, follower of our blog 'O Púbis da Rosa' <-
Tracklist :
1    Trance    5:59
 Steve Kuhn
2    A Change Of Face    4:58
 Steve Kuhn
3    Squirt    3:00
 Steve Kuhn
4    The Sandhouse    3:47
 Steve Kuhn
5    Something Everywhere    7:48
 Steve Kuhn
6    Silver    2:54
 Steve Kuhn
7    The Young Blade    6:17
 Steve Kuhn
8    Life's Backward Glance    3:09
 Steve Kuhn
Credits :
Drums – Jack DeJohnette
Electric Bass – Steve Swallow
Percussion – Sue Evans
Piano [Acoustic Piano], Electric Piano, Composed By – Steve Kuhn
Producer – Manfred Eicher

STEVE KUHN QUARTET — Last Year's Waltz (1982) Vinyl, LP | 24-48Hz | FLAC (tracks), lossless

For a time, singer Sheila Jordan was a regular member of pianist Steve Kuhn's quartet, a group also including bassist Harvie Swartz and drummer Bob Moses. This live set finds the band performing five Kuhn originals, one apiece by Swartz and Steve Swallow, plus "I Remember You," "Confirmation," and a brief medley. Although Jordan functions as a member of the band, her highly appealing singing is the main reason to acquire this memorable and well-rounded disc. Scott Yanow
Tracklist :
A1        Turn To Gold 3:45
Written-By – S. Kuhn
A2    The Drinking Song 5:42
Written-By – S. Kuhn
A3    Last Year's Waltz 4:04
Written-By – S. Kuhn
A4    I Remember You 8:19
Written-By – J. Mercer, V. Schertzinger
B1    México 5:02
Written-By – H. Swartz
B2    The Fruit Fly 5:37
Written-By – S. Kuhn
B3    The Feeling Within 4:46
Written-By – S. Kuhn
Medley    (2:00)
B4a    Old Folks
Written-By – D. Hill, W. Robinson
B4b    Well You Needn't
Written-By – T. Monk
B5    Confirmation 5:24
Written-By – C. Parker
B6    The City Of Dallas 2:55
Written-By – S. Swallow
Credits :
Bass – Harvie Swartz
Drums – Bob Moses
Piano – Steve Kuhn
Voice – Sheila Jordan

STEVE KUHN — Remembering Tomorrow (1995) FLAC (tracks+.cue), lossless

In a blindfold test it would be easy to identify pianist Steve Kuhn's CD as a stereotypical ECM recording. With its emphasis on space, rather slow development and occasional repetition, the performances of Kuhn, bassist David Finck and drummer Joey Baron (all but one of the 11 pieces are Kuhn originals) only occasionally rise above the level of background music. There are some heated moments on the sixth song ("All the Rest Is the Same") and the tenth ("Bittersweet Passages") but most of this set is rather sleepy and melancholy, not living up to the potential of these talented musicians. Scott Yanow
Tracklist :
1    The Rain Forest    4:03
 Steve Kuhn
2    Oceans In The Sky    7:53
 Steve Kuhn
3    Lullaby    4:46
 Steve Kuhn
4    Trance    8:00
 Steve Kuhn
5    Life's Backward Glance    5:13
 Steve Kuhn
6    All The Rest Is The Same    7:34
 Steve Kuhn
7    Emmanuel 5:03
 Michel Colombier
8    Remembering Tomorrow    7:51
 Steve Kuhn
9    The Feeling Within    6:00
 Steve Kuhn
10    Bittersweet Passages    4:45
 Steve Kuhn
11    Silver    6:53
 Steve Kuhn
Credits :
Double Bass – David Finck
Piano – Steve Kuhn
Drums – Joey Baron

STEVE KUHN W/Strings — Promises Kept (2004) APE (image+.cue), lossless

The lineup on Promises Kept says it all: Steve Kuhn with strings. Kuhn is a jazz pianist whose recordings may have been out of the jazz mainstream for most of the five decades his career has spanned, but it hardly matters. Kuhn's style is signature, though his explorations have taken him to many different terrains in the world of jazz, from knotty post-bop to pointillism and modalism and through the nefarious world of 20th century vanguard composition to the place where listeners find him now: the place of a supreme and unabashed lyricism that is as sophisticated and forward-looking as it is historical and inclusive. Bassist David Finck is also present here; his trademark loping style has been a fixture on Kuhn's recordings since 1986. Conducted and orchestrated by Carlos Franzetti, this 15-piece string orchestra offers a lush yet poignant collaborative sphere for Kuhn to work his considerable harmonic magic. Kuhn composed all ten pieces. Some are well-known items in his oeuvre; others were written specifically for this recording. They vary in range, mood, texture, and depth of field. The album opens with "Lullaby," its sheer nocturnal elegance kissed by quiet joy. The bittersweet emotionalism of his classic "Life's Backward Glance" becomes a credo for the entire album. Beginning with a series of brooding washes by the cellos and tempered by a pastoral reflective series of chords and ostinatos, it becomes the haunted song of reverie as tempered by a sense of the fleeting present. "Trance" offers an elongated string introduction, whereby the feeling of time's suspension pervades in the violas and cellos until the repetitive, songlike melody line slips into the middle between them and the violins caress the entire mix. Here romanticism and jazz entwine in the body of Kuhn's harmonic structures, shimmering through a luxuriant mirror of musical history. And the title track, an homage to Kuhn's Hungarian immigrant parents, waltzes and glides between Old Europe and a far more romantic vision of America than exists today. It is formal and carries within it a wistful kind of romanticism that is seldom heard in modern music. In sum, this is one of the finest recordings Kuhn has ever issued. Simply put, for all the decades spent adventuring on the boundaries where various traditions blur, the pianist and composer articulate direct emotion as the most effective communicator here, no matter what terrain is navigated in form. A breathtaking and intimate outing, this is a career-topping effort.
-> This comment is posted on Allmusic by Thom Jurek, follower of our blog 'O Púbis da Rosa' <-
Tracklist :
1    Lullaby    4:44
2    Life's Backward Glance    4:59
3    Trance    8:08
4    Morning Dew    5:28
5    Promises Kept    5:14
6    Adagio    7:25
7    Celtic Princess    5:06
8    Nostalgia    5:22
9    Oceans In The Sky    5:32
10    Pastorale    5:40
Credits :
Cello – Joshua Gordon, Richard Locker, Stephanie Cummins
Conductor, Orchestrated By – Carlos Franzetti
Double Bass – David Finck
Piano, Composed By – Steve Kuhn
Viola – Karen Ritscher, Sue Pray, Vince Lionti
Violin – Anca Nicolau, Barry Finclair, Carol Pool, Elizabeth Lim-Dutton, Helen Kim, Karl Kawahara, Krista Bennion Feeney, Richard Sortomme, Robert Shaw

STEVE KUHN TRIO W/ JOE LOVANO – Mostly Coltrane (2009) FLAC (tracks+.cue), lossless

Steve Kuhn was the original pianist in the John Coltrane Quartet, though he was replaced by McCoy Tyner after two months, as Tyner had been Coltrane's initial choice. Though he never recorded with Coltrane, he is steeped in the late saxophonist's music; this tribute covers music from many phases of his career. With tenor saxophonist Joe Lovano, bassist David Finck, and drummer Joey Baron (the latter two being part of the pianist's working trio), Kuhn had the challenge of tackling mostly well-known Coltrane compositions and standards without sounding like a clone, even though he was utilizing the same instrumentation. Fortunately, Kuhn's approach to playing is very distinctly different from McCoy Tyner, while any hints of Coltrane's influence on Lovano are brief. Billy Eckstine's "I Want to Talk About You" shimmers in the pianist's reserved, lyrical trio setting (omitting saxophone), while "The Night Has a Thousand Eyes" bursts with energy, with Lovano making a delayed entrance well into the piece. One of the most unusual tracks is "Spiritual," with Lovano playing the tárogató, an Hungarian reed instrument that is related to the oboe, sounding a bit like a soprano sax but with a warmer, less shrill sound. Their extended workout of this Coltrane favorite is more reserved than the composer's several recordings, but here the quartet is at its most adventurous. Kuhn also explores late-period Coltrane songs, such as the meditative "Jimmy's Mode" (showcasing Finck) and the turbulent avant-garde-ish "Configuration," both of which remained unissued until 1994. Mostly Coltrane easily stands out as one of the best CDs among the countless tributes to John Coltrane and is one of Steve Kuhn's essential recordings within his extensive discography. Ken Dryden
Tracklist :
1    Welcome    4:56
 John Coltrane
2    Song Of Praise    7:26
 John Coltrane
3    Crescent    6:20
 John Coltrane
4    I Want To Talk About You    5:56
 Billy Eckstine
5    The Night Has A Thousand Eyes    8:41
 Buddy Bernier / Jerome Brainin
6    Living Space    5:08
 John Coltrane
7    Central Park West    3:46
 John Coltrane
8    Like Sonny    6:00
 John Coltrane
9    With Gratitude    3:37
 Steve Kuhn
10    Configuration    4:19
 John Coltrane
11    Jimmy's Mode    6:53
 John Coltrane
12    Spiritual    8:15
 John Coltrane
13    Trance    5:24
  Steve Kuhn
Credits :
Double Bass – David Finck
Drums – Joey Baron
Piano – Steve Kuhn
Producer – Manfred Eicher
Tenor Saxophone, Tárogató [Tarogato] – Joe Lovano

STEVE KUHN | STEVE SWALLOW | JOEY BARON — Wisteria (2012) FLAC (tracks+.cue), lossless

Steve Kuhn has excelled in many settings in a career spanning over five decades, but he is at his best leading a trio. Like many top pianists, Kuhn interacts with his musicians rather than relegating them exclusively to the role of accompanists. By the time of this 2011 record date, he had worked with bassist Steve Swallow at various times for over a half-century and with drummer Joey Baron for over 20 years, but this marked their first recording together as a trio. Swallow's sublime lyrical bass is always a welcome addition, while Baron has contributed to recordings by a diverse range of stylists. Kuhn contributed many of the songs, highlighted by his lyrical samba "Adagio" and the glistening, light-hearted "Morning Dew." He also revisits several of his best compositions recorded for previous projects: the lush ballad "Romance," the whispered "Pastorale" with Swallow playing lead in the introduction as Kuhn plays soft chords behind him and Baron's light touch on brushes providing the perfect accent, along with the mellow yet hip "Promises Kept." Swallow's compositions are frequently used by leaders with whom he works. His "Dark Glasses" opens with a mysterious air but shifts quickly into a bright bossa nova. One can only imagine the inspiration for the title to "Good Lookin' Rookie," and this breezy number doesn't disappoint, with Kuhn's driving piano and Swallow's intricate bass solo, along with Baron's drum breaks. Highly recommended! Ken Dryden
Tracklist :
1    Chalet 6:23
Written-By – Steve Kuhn
2    Adagio 7:03
Written-By – Steve Kuhn
3    Morning Drew 6:33
Written-By – Steve Kuhn
4    Romance 4:27
Written-By – Dori Caymmi
5    Permanent Wave 6:36
Written-By – Carla Bley
6    A Likely Story 6:43
Written-By – Steve Kuhn
7    Pastorale 6:15
Written-By – Steve Kuhn
8    Wisteria 5:47
Written-By – Art Farmer
9    Dark Glasses 5:52
Written-By – Steve Swallow
10    Promises Kept 5:31
Written-By – Steve Kuhn
11    Good Lookin' Rookie 5:50
Written-By – Steve Swallow
Credits :
Bass – Steve Swallow
Drums – Joey Baron
Piano – Steve Kuhn

KEITH JARRETT — Budapest Concert (2020) 2CD | FLAC (tracks+.cue), lossless

On October 21, 2020, the New York Times printed a feature article entitled "Keith Jarrett Confronts a Future Without the Piano." Inside, the artist disclosed that he had suffered two strokes in 2018 that left him unable to use his left hand, effectively ending his performing career: "I don't know what my future is supposed to be. I don't feel right now like I'm a pianist." The Budapest Concert is the second release from his 2016 tour, and was recorded two weeks before Munich 2016. Structurally there are similarities between the two. Each contains a dozen numbered suite-like movements, and encores. Performed at the Béla Bartók National Concert Hall, Keith Jarrett, whose familial roots lie in Hungary, considered this show as a kind of homecoming. Its two discs are divided by contrasting thematic resonances in his improvising and playing.

The nearly 15-minute opening movement amounts to a somewhat intense, dark-toned overture that careens through various classical notions and motifs reflecting his lifelong appreciation of Hungarian composer Béla Bartók, without developing them -- a long established hallmark in Jarrett's improvised concerts. It's a seemingly unending inquiry of extrapolated right-hand figures while his left punctuates them with fat bass chords and counterpoint. He releases the tension somewhat on "II" with slowly developing tonal and chromatic inventions that feed into and off of one another, posing questions answered by more questions. "IV" follows a dramatic, minor-key blues progression as the left hand dialogues with the piano's lower and middle register. The mood on the second disc is lighter if not necessarily brighter. Jarrett's love of American songbook pop is softly articulated as a lullaby on "V." Though less than four minutes long, "VI" is a set highlight as the pianist moves across ragtime, stride, bop, and blues, and swings like mad with warmth and humor. He commences "VII" with softly played upper-register triads that expand into songlike developments evoking folk and gospel themes; he momentarily quotes from "Danny Boy," "Shenandoah," and the Beatles' "Hey Jude." The open-ended "VIII" offers incandescent, nearly impressionist balladry, while "IX" and "X" reprise the moodier, denser classical motifs on disc one. The final movement is aptly subtitled "Blues," as Jarrett joyously evokes everyone from James P. Johnson and Albert Ammons to Meade Lux Lewis, Champion Jack Dupree, and Ray Charles, and brings the house down. Both encore covers were also performed in Munich, but these versions are more immediate, less considered. "It's a Lonesome Old Town" is spectral, nearly spiritual, evoking traces from the Duke Ellington and Lena Horne readings. "Answer Me, My Love" develops from the middle register and briefly considers Etta Jones' iconic 1962 version in its tenderness and quiet desperation. The first half of The Budapest Concert is challenging, as its knotty improvisations sometimes require rigorous attention. That said, the more melodically redolent back half welcomes even casual listeners. Jarrett regards this as his current "gold standard" for live improvisation, and given its reach and focus, it's difficult to argue with him -- especially now.
-> This comment is posted on Allmusic by Thom Jurek, follower of our blog 'O Púbis da Rosa' <-
Tracklist :
1-1    Part I    14:42
 Keith Jarrett
1-2    Part II    6:54
 Keith Jarrett
1-3    Part III    8:10
 Keith Jarrett
1-4    Part IV    7:53
 Keith Jarrett
2-1    Part V    5:13
 Keith Jarrett
2-2    Part VI    3:52
 Keith Jarrett
2-3    Part VII    5:45
 Keith Jarrett
2-4    Part VIII    5:35
 Keith Jarrett
2-5    Part IX    2:42
 Keith Jarrett
2-6    Part X    8:40
 Keith Jarrett
2-7    Part XI    5:54
 Keith Jarrett
2-8    Part XII - Blues    4:04
 Keith Jarrett
2-9    It's A Lonesome Old Town    8:01
 Charles Kisco / Harry Tobias
2-10    Answer Me, My Love    4:55
 Fred Rauch / Gerhard Winkler
Credits :
Piano – Keith Jarrett

BILL CONNORS — Theme To The Gaurdian (1975) APE (tracks+.cue) lossless

The blazingly explosive and technically precise legato guitarist in Return to Forever left after one release with RTF to pursue a solo career and much quieter, acoustic guitar path. This is the first in a trio of acoustic guitar releases Bill Connors put out in the 1970s on the famous ECM label. Theme to the Gaurdian features some truly excellent acoustic guitar work, with some unique compositions and playing styles. Connors dubs one track as a sort of complex and exotic chordal progression-based structure of strummed rhythms and/or a tapestry of three-finger rolling. He solos over this landscape of dreamy, moody, surreal, and frenetic design. The effect is a ghostly dance of melancholy angst and passionate wailings. John W. Patterson
Tracklist :
1    Theme To The Gaurdian    5:15
 Bill Connors
2    Childs Eyes    4:22
 Bill Connors
3    Song For A Crow    4:12
 Bill Connors
4    Sad Hero    4:26
 Bill Connors
5    Sea Song 5:02
 Glenn Cronkhite
6    Frantic Desire    2:52
 Bill Connors
7    Folk Song    6:33
 Bill Connors
8    My Favorite Fantasy    4:23
 Bill Connors
9    The Highest Mountain    3:25
 Bill Connors
Credits :
Guitar – Bill Connors

MARILYN MAZUR'S FUTURE SONGS — Small Labyrinths (1997) FLAC (image+.cue), lossless

Tracklist :
1    A World Of Gates 2:12
Composed By – M. Mazur
2    Drum Tunnel 2:24
Composed By – A. Kleive, M. Mazur
3    The Electric Cave 1:43
Composed By – E. Aarset, M. Mazur, N. P. Molvær
4    The Dreamcatcher 5:45
Composed By – Marilyn Mazur
5    Visions In The Wood 5:30
Composed By – A. Kleive, K. Hovman, M. Mazur
6    Back To Dreamfog Mountain 6:03
Composed By – M. Mazur
7    Creature Talk 1:11
Composed By – A. Kleive, M. Mazur
8    See There 7:18
Composed By – M. Mazur
9    Valley Of Fragments 1:21
Composed By – Future Song
10    Enchanted Place 3:12
Composed By – Future Song
11    Castle Of Air 4:20
Composed By – M. Mazur
12    The Holey 7:13
Composed By – M. Mazur
Credits :
Bass [Basses] – Klavs Hovman
Drums – Audun Kleive
Guitar – Eivind Aarset
Percussion – Marilyn Mazur
Piano, Keyboards – Elvira Plenar
Producer [Album Produced By] – Manfred Eicher
Saxophone [Saxophones] – Hans Ulrik
Trumpet – Nils Petter Molvær
Voice – Aina Kemanis

ANNETTE PEACOCK — An Acrobat's Heart (2000) FLAC (image+.cue), lossless

Annette Peacock has been a defining influence on the music of ECM for many years, but An Acrobat's Heart is the first album she has made for the label as a leader. Here Peacock turns away from her previous work with electronic elements to produce a spare, ethereal set of compositions for voice, piano, and strings echoing the style of her early '80s album Skyskating. An Acrobat's Heart also marks the first time that Peacock has composed for strings, and the Cikada String Quartet's seamless accompaniment almost breathes with her. Silence and minimalism play major roles in this work, and both Peacock's voice and the accompanying instrumentation seem to bloom up from the quiet background and then dissipate again as quickly they appeared. The tones are clear and precise, but occasionally veer into dissonance as Peacock's wistful lyrics are fleshed out into holograms of sound, transparent but fully realized. Elements of jazz, blues, and torch songs ebb and flow throughout the album, adding to the nostalgic themes of romance and longing embodied by the lyrics. While seeming deeply personal, the lyrics are the weakest element of An Acrobat's Heart, lacking in the kind of poetic imagery and rhythm that would place them on a par with the quality of the surrounding music. Overall, however, this album proves that after over three decades as a performer, Annette Peacock still has the skill to compose and execute truly beautiful music. Stacia Proefrock
Tracklist :
1    Mia's Proof    5:24
2    Tho    5:24
3    Weightless    4:42
4    Over.    3:52
5    As Long As Now    3:49
6    U Slide    4:17
7    B 4 U Said    4:42
8    The Heart Keeps    3:08
9    Ways It Isn't    3:50
10    Unspoken    2:59
11    Safe    3:29
12    Free The Memory    4:36
13    , Ever 2 B Gotten.    2:53
14    Camille    4:50
15    Lost At Last    2:18
Credits :
Ensemble – Cikada String Quartet :
Viola – Marek Konstantynowicz
Violin – Henrik Hannisdal, Odd Hannisdal
Violoncello – Morten Hannisdal
Words, Music, Vocals, Piano – Annette Peacock

CARLA BLEY — Tropic Appetites (1974-1998) FLAC (image + .cue), lossless

Following their superb "chronotransduction," Escalator Over the Hill, composer Carla Bley and poet Paul Haines once again teamed up for Tropic Appetites, a somewhat different, but equally compelling effort. The instrumentation is scaled down to an octet and the lyrics revolve around trips to Southeast Asia, particularly Bali, made by Haines over the preceding years. Bley makes an inspired choice for lead vocalist by enlisting the extraordinary Julie Tippetts who had attained rock stardom in the late '60s (as Julie Driscoll) in Brian Auger's Trinity.

After a powerful introductory "overture" led by the still incendiary Gato Barbieri who, for contractual reasons, is referred to in the credits as "Unidentified Cat," the hothouse atmosphere of the recording is established by the next song, "In India," with its humid, surreal lyrics.Bley consistently provides rich, imaginative, and varied underpinnings for Tippett's crystalline vocal work. From the ferocious and angry "Enormous Tots" to the yearning "Caucasian Bird Riffles" to the delightful singsong "Funnybird Song" featuring priceless vocals from Howard Johnson and Bley's very young daughter Karen Mantler (who would go on to a career of her own), the music is strong and memorable throughout.

All of the musicians are in top form, but special mention should be made of the dream rhythm team of David Holland and Paul Motian. Their tonal colors and supple interplay is a major factor of the success of this album. Tropic Appetites is one of Carla Bley's greatest successes; one could only wish that she had continued in this vein rather than opting for the jazz-funk bands she led from 1980 forward. Brian Olewnick
Tracklist :
1    What Will Be Left Between Us And The Moon Tonight?    11:04
 Carla Bley / Paul Haines
2    In India    1:10
 Carla Bley / Paul Haines
3    Enormous Tots    6:05
 Carla Bley / Paul Haines
4    Caucasian Bird Riffles    5:06
 Carla Bley / Paul Haines
5    Funnybird Song    1:18
 Carla Bley / Paul Haines
6    Indonesian Dock Sucking Supreme    8:54
 Carla Bley / Paul Haines
7    Song Of The Jungle Stream    10:15
 Carla Bley / Paul Haines
8    Nothing    3:34
 Carla Bley / Paul Haines
Credits :
Cello, Acoustic Bass, Bass Guitar – Dave Holland
Drums, Percussion – Paul Motian
Producer – Carla Bley, Michael Mantler
Tenor Saxophone, Percussion – Gato Barbieri
Trumpet, Valve Trombone – Michael Mantler
Violin, Viola – Toni Marcus
Voice – Julie Tippetts
Voice, Clarinet, Bass Clarinet, Soprano Saxophone, Baritone Saxophone, Bass Saxophone, Tuba [Tubas] – Howard Johnson
Voice, Recorder [Recorders], Piano, Electric Piano, Clavinet, Organ, Marimba, Celesta [Celeste], Percussion, Music By – Carla Bley

CAGE : As it is (Alexei Lubimov · Natalia Pschenitschnikova) (2012) FLAC (image+.cue) lossless

Released as part of the 2012 celebration of John Cage's centennial, this ECM New Series album presents pieces for piano, prepared piano, and voice that represent the lyrical side of the composer. While many of Cage's pieces are accessible for their simplicity and delicacy, these quiet piano reveries and vocal settings of texts by James Joyce, e.e. cummings, and Gertrude Stein are especially easy to approach for their quiet music, soft sounds, and hypnotic melodies and patterns. The performances by pianist Alexei Lubimov and singer Natalia Pschenitschnikova are fully in accord with Cage's methods, and their self-effacing introspection contribute greatly to this disc's feelings of anonymity and secrecy. The words of The Wonderful Widow of Eighteen Springs, Experiences No. 2, Three Songs, Five Songs, and Nowth upon nacht tend to blur in the highly resonant recording space, and Pschenitschnikova's thick accent tends to obscure the words sufficiently to create dreamlike performances that can only be followed with the help of the booklet. In contrast, Lubimov's keyboard performances are quite clear, clean, and precise, and the slight increase of volume is almost surprising when compared with the sotto voce quality of the songs. Yet listeners will easily find a volume level that's suitable for home listening, which is perhaps the best way to appreciate the haunting subtlety of these pieces. Blair Sanderson
John Cage (1912 – 1992)
1. Dream
2. The Wonderful Widow of Eighteen Springs
3. The Unavailable Memory of
4. A Flower
5. Music for Marcel Duchamp
6. Experiences No.2
7. A Room
8-10. Three Songs
11-12. Two Pieces for Piano
13-17. Five Songs
18 Prelude for Meditation
19. She is Asleep
20. Nowth upon nacht
21. Dream, var.

Alexei Lubimov : Piano, Prepared Piano
Natalia Pschenitschnikova : Voice