The best of the ECM label


There is so much really good and well recorded music on the ECM label, but a lot is downright strange. Many of the artists are not well known and the music, new compositions, both the jazz and new label ECM, or classical. It is very hard to gauge what is worth a purchase, because of this.

I do find it interesting, that you can listen to the classical and more avant garde classical material and not find it easy to distinguish the two. Any choice is going to be highly personal, but some suggestions would be helpful.

To start, my personal favourite is
Khmer by Nils Petter Molvaer
david12
The first three Tord Guftavson trio recordings are great. They're a much purer sound than his last couple of records, which added a saxophone.
John Taylor "Rosslyn", George Adams "Sound Suggestions" Bennie Maupin "The Jewel In The Lotus", Jack Dejohnette's Directions "New Rags", Paul Motian, "Le Voyage". That's it for now but there are many many more to suggest.
Glad Grimace resurrected this. ECM should be a permanent discussion topic on A'gon. Add Egberto Gismonti to the list of ECM artists that are worth checking out.
Two of my favorite artists are Dino Saluzzi and
Gianluigi Trovesi. Always great performances and superbly recorded,
even a level above ECM's typically excellent offerings.