TORD GUSTAVSEN ENSEMBLE – RESTORED, RETURNED
ECM 2107     60251798987(0)

Kristin Asbjørnsen: zpěv; Tore Brunborg: tenor a soprán
saxofony; Tord Gustavsen: klavír; Mats Eilertsen: kontrabas; Jarle Vespestad: bicí nástroje

After a trilogy of highly successful trio albums (“Changing Places”, “The Ground”, “Being There”), Tord Gustavsen branches off in new directions. His new band adds two players familiar to ECM listeners – bassist Mats Eilertsen and saxophonist Tore Brunborg – and introduces the blues-inflected voice of Kristin Asbjørnsen on Tord’s settings of the poetry of W.H. Auden. Inside the ensemble, duo and trio interaction unfolds, taking off from the clear melodic language of Gustavsen’s songwriting.

FRANCOIS COUTURIER – UN JOUR SI BLANC
ECM 2103     060252702689(3)

François Couturier: klavír

François Couturier’s solo excursion “Un jour si blanc” is conceived by its maker as the second volume in a planned trilogy, and an extension of the earlier quartet disc “Nostalghia”, dedicated to filmmaker Andrei Tarkovsky. The highly poetic approach – both in the playing itself and in the referential and allusive conception – is again evident. The new album’s starting point is a poem by Arseni Tarkovsky, which gives the disc its title and atmospheric implications. Thereafter, the music opens up associatively, making trans-idiomatic improvisational interconnections. “I wanted to pay tribute to some great artists I particularly like”, says Couturier. These include Johann Sebastian Bach, Arthur Rimbaud, Claude Debussy, Franz Schubert, Toru Takemitsu, Joan Miro, the painters of the Blaue Reiter group and more. Meanwhile, “Lune de miel” quotes liberally from “I Fall In Love Too Easily”... But if standard jazz is a component of this disc it is filtered through the focus of a player steeped in the European classical and experimental traditions. This first solo disc from the insightful French pianist is also a richly creative contribution to the unaccompanied piano genre established at ECM, as Couturier now joins the distinguished list of improvising pianists - Chick Corea, Paul Bley, Keith Jarrett, Marilyn Crispell, Jon Balke, Misha Alperin - who have recorded alone for the label.

STEFANO BATTAGLIA, MICHELE RABBIA – PASTORALE
ECM 2120     060252713764(3)

Stefano Battaglia: klavír, preparovaný klavír;
Michele Rabbia: perkuse, elektronika

In this beautiful duo album by two of Italy’s most creative musicians, roles are frequently overturned, as lyrical percussion shades into electronics and texture turns to melody. Stefano Battaglia reminds us that the piano is also a percussion instrument and Michele Rabbia is sensitive to all the tonal implications of drums and cymbals. The musicians play with and without scores in material that is variously open-form, tightly-controlled, inspired by folk idioms, by classical music and by art installations. Battaglia allows beautiful themes to ripple through the work, and sounds are given room to blossom. Duets for piano and percussion have long represented an important zone in the work of Stefano Battaglia (in the early 1990s, he collaborated with both Tony Oxley and Pierre Favre). Since 2000, Michele Rabbia has been Battaglia’s principal percussionist, appearing on both of his previous ECM releases – “Raccolto” and “Re: Pasolini” - as an ensemble member and fellow improviser. On “Pastorale” the musicians shape the music together.

EBERHARD WEBER – COLOURS
ECM 2133-35     060252719638(1)     3CD za cenu 2CD

Eberhard Weber: el. kontrabas; Charlie Mariano: soprán saxofon, shenai, nagaswaram; flétny; Rainer Brüninghaus: klavír, klávesové nástroje; Jon Christensen: bicí nástroje; John Marshall: bicí nástroje

· These three Eberhard Weber CDs incorporate all the music made for ECM by his innovative group Colours.
· Drawn from the albums “Yellow Fields”, “Silent Feet”, and “Little Movements”, recorded 1975 to 1980, produced by Manfred Eicher.
· All three discs have been out of print for some time: their return will be welcomed by Weber’s many supporters.
· Box includes extensive liner notes by Michael Tucker, based on interviews with the musicians, and rare archive photos.
· Released in time for presentation of the Albert Mangelsdorff Preis – Germany’s biggest jazz award - to Eberhard Weber for his life’s work. Presentation is on November 6 in Berlin, with Manfred Schoof giving the laudatio.
· The “Colours” box set is the latest instalment in ECM’s highly acclaimed Old and New Masters series which has previously featured state-of-the-art music productions with Keith Jarrett, Chick Corea and Gary Burton, Steve Kuhn and Codona.