Big ECM fan, own a few of their box sets like John Abercrombie and Charles Lloyd. I have discovered so many artists on their label.
Any ECM fans here?
I've always loved the sound Manfred Eicher gets in the studio. It's great to hear so many new musical ideas. Whether you call it jazz, or whatever...it's always interesting music to me. My first ECM album was "Facing You" by Keith Jarrett. I wore the grooves out on it. What do you think about ECM?
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I was fortunate to have been managing a hifi store at the time ECM pressings first appeared. The European pressings were very prized. I was also blessed to have a jazz-fusion bass player as one of my employees. Between us, we managed to afford a few Jarrett, Metheny, Burton and Corea discs. Gary Burton used to give my old Decca cartridge fits! It helped that Pat Metheny dated my best friend's sister when he was in high school. Didn't really know him personally, sadly, but only because I didn't know he was there. The kids had him cornered in the sun room with his guitar. I was gabbing with my best friend's family and you know. ECM has created audiophiles out of modern jazz fans AND VICE-VERSA! I'm digital now but an ECM freak from back in the day. |
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Thanks for the Jazz Times link. These were great years for Pat Metheny music. I'm listening to the remasters and guess what... compression. To my ears they were trying to remove the tape hiss and went too heavy. According to the article, they used 1/2" analogue masters as sources which must have sounded so good. |
Sorry, but though I like & own a couple ECM LPs (don't ask me which), I just don't like the label in general. Their releases don't have enough passion for me. It's not that the music is mechanical, it's just that it doesn't take chances. The music on the label comes mostly from the fingers, not from the heart. Sound-wise, ECM releases are clean but they seem a touch compressed. |
Just last Friday ECM released 11 of Pat Metheny’s albums remastered in 24/96 hi-res for download or streaming. They are on Qobuz and Tidal. I have streamed several of them on Qobuz and they sound great. I think these are from the same remastering done for SACD in 2018. https://jazztimes.com/blog/pat-metheny-ecm-catalog-now-available-in-hi-res-audio/ ECM in general, has good but not great sound, IMHO. Of course it varies from album to album. I have some ECM albums that I like a lot. My favorites are probably among the usual suspects, Pat Metheny, Charles LLoyd, Jan Gabarek. I used to enjoy Keith Jarrett until I watched a video of him. He looked like he was in so much pain while playing, and I can’t get that image out of my mind when I listen to him. |
I love the ECM sound. Not very familiar with their classical, but I have many of their jazz albums. Lots of Pat Metheny starting in the 70’s. And I loved when Pat said, please don’t play my albums on smooth jazz radio. I’ve always preferred the sound of their LP’s over CD. Every recording I own has outstanding SQ. |