Artist Guides,
The Next Best Sound to Silence: ECM Artists Pick their Favourite Albums
by Barney Whittaker
With a roster that specialises in almost every branch of jazz and classical imaginable, it's no secret that our love runs deep for this Munich-based label here at Presto HQ. With our ongoing ECM sale, we thought it might not be a bad idea to employ several established artists to hand-pick their own selections from its mammoth back catalogue, before revealing what these records mean to them as well as what keeps them returning for future listens.
Having put out the call, we were delighted to hear from a host of notable musicians, many of whom are regular members of the ECM-roster — both past and present. Read on to find out what they had to say about this stunning array of contemporary classical and jazz recordings.
Elina Duni, vocalist
“This bunch of amazing musicians come together for the first time and create some magical moments, all playing somehow differently from their other projects. It seems to me that this album is a real experience of a musical encounter, of something very unique. This is why I love listening to it, to remind myself how deeply important these encounters are, even if at first sight they might seem somehow improbable, like this one… The music grows richer and stronger through embracing all these different horizons.”
“What really hit me, the first time I heard this, was how unlike anything else I’ve ever heard it sounds. Original and natural, a singular voice exploring all these waves of abstraction and broken lyricism. Very unfiltered and genuine. A live solo piano recording from a concert in Tokyo, you have the feeling of being on the edge of every decision with him in real time.”
“I love the wild, restless flow of this album and the serpentine way in which the musicians navigate the material. There’s some stunning drumming in there from Tom Rainey and the production is absolutely glorious, too. It’s not so well-known in comparison to some other ECM albums, so for anyone who enjoys a voyage into the unknown, I can truly recommend getting hold of this album.”
“I have been listening to this album recently because the Canadian Rap artist Drake is currently using part of the Azimuth recording, ‘The Tunnel’, in a piece called ‘IDGAF’… I don't know how he became aware of it. It has made me listen again to those old recordings, which, I have to say, seemed ahead of their time. The tracks ‘Azimuth’ and ‘Jacob’ are very interesting.”
“Among the many endlessly inspired and inspiring albums of Keith, this has a special place for me because of its total concentration on the song itself. It is the intimate speech of a genius, directed to someone he loves.”
“Paul was such a creative musician, and the sound and sustain he got out of that small Steinway piano at Arne Bendiksen Studio was amazing... His way of space, simplicity, voicings and dynamics was very personal and many tried to copy him. A very famous piano player was at a concert I played with Paul in ‘72. When the audience called for an encore, Paul asked the other piano player to play it, saying to me as we went backstage, ‘I think he owes me that’.”
“Over a 25-year period, this one has kept coming back to me with its mixture of old and new: the sparse and precise material, sometimes like just a small sentence, a hesitation, a consideration... Then, the amazing Bach-transcriptions into four-hand piano pieces, coming now and then as some sort of heavy beauty reminder of something. The fantastic performance itself, the sound, the sequence of the material; it's all coming together in an outstanding album.”
“My mum gave me this album to listen to when I was at school, given to her by my uncle. This album was so different aesthetically to everything else I was listening to at the time, but I was really captured by Ralph Towner's playing/compositions and the percussionist Trilok Gurtu. I used to play along to it, trying to copy what he would play… His drumming was so unique to me and gave me a whole different perspective on what playing the drums could be.”
“The improvisation is so beautiful, so intimate and perfect and adventurous at the same time, it sounds as if the music really is just flowing through Keith’s fingers and anything he might play or not, doesn’t matter. The melodies just move forward and they are all given this wonderful form and shape by his sense of harmony and space. I felt a real connection to it immediately.”
“I love this album, the intensity, the transparency and variety of it (one of my favourite songs is ‘Je ne sais pas’ by Jaques Brel). The collection of songs is wonderful and the way Elina sings and plays quite a variety of instruments takes me to different places in my head.”
"I must admit that I was somewhat nervous when I arrived at the studio, since there was no rehearsal time and I had no idea what musical challenges would await me... I remember the session as being totally relaxed and really enjoyable and I think that the album reflects that spirit throughout. I believe that it is also an album that Manfred Eicher looks back on with happy memories. I don't think that Mick Goodrick has ever quite been given the recognition that he deserves, so anyone who doesn't know his playing should check out In Pas(s)ing."
"I frequently listen to polyphonic music, and one recording I've returned to many times over the years is Keith Jarrett's interpretation of Dmitri Shostakovich's 24 Preludes and Fugues. Jarrett brings remarkable clarity to the contrapuntal lines in the fugues, so natural in his expressions of the characters, beautiful pianistic natural timbres. The essence of the music feels as if Jarrett has composed it himself. I've learned a lot from this recording and have enjoyed it for many years and often return to it."
"I keep returning to this special recording from the Soviet area. Ukrainian composer Valentin Silvestrov’s cycle of songs lasts almost two hours while staying consistently at piano-pianissimo and below... gorgeous melodic lines, understated musical mysticism offering conciliation, unsweetened beauty and serenity. And, in today’s situation, also a quiet but powerful protest against barbaric warfare: Ukrainian music with Russian poetry."
Hailing from Warwickshire, Barney is a twenty-something musician with a burning passion for sounds that entice as well as grooves that swing. He undertook a BA English Language & Linguistics at King's College London, graduating in 2022. Having promoted jazz and folk artists and performers throughout the West Midlands and the Greater Manchester area, he now sings on Sundays in a church choir, plays double bass to anyone that’ll listen, and occasionally might bring out an Irish reel on the mandolin - but not without warning. He can also speak some French, if you ask nicely. Performing has dragged him from his humble beginnings in cosy local pubs to the prodigious stage of the Royal Albert Hall, and all the way back again. This is his first editorial role and he looks forward, with the help of everyone at Presto Music, to discovering the perfect beat.
