This is, of course, subjective judgement, but here goes. I've bought ECM for decades, one of my favorite labels. Rockadanny is right, some of their releases are boring though. Some I definitely think aren't boring: Anything by Steve Tibbetts (great guitarist who is always channeling his inner percusionist.) In particular "Safe Journey," "Exploded View," & "A Man About a Horse." John Hassell's "Last Night the Moon Came Dropping its Clothes in the Street." Marcus Stockhausen/Terje Rypdal/Arild Andersen's "Karta." Charles Lloyd's "Sangam," "Canto," & "Voice in the NIght." Tomasz Stanko "From the Green Hill." Bobo Stenson Trio "War Orphans." Also greatly enjoy Terje Rypdal's entire catalog.
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
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