Miroslav Hloucal: trumpet, Radek Zapadlo: tenor saxophone, Matej Benko: piano, Tomáš Liška: double-bass, Pavel Zbořil: drums, Miriam Bayle:vocal (special guest)

J.S.BACH: INVENTIONEN UND SINFONIEN
ECM2043     028947663553

Till Fellner: piano
Inventionen BWV 772 - 786
Sinfonien BWV 787 - 801
French suite Nr.5, G Major BWV 816

For more than four years, fans have been waiting for a new Bach recording from the extraordinary Austrian pianist Till Fellner. His interpretation of the first book of the Well-tempered piano for ECM was released in 2004 to great critical acclaim. “The articulation and the shaping of line are always clean, with meticulous but subtle attention given to the underlining of fugue subjects. There is just the right amount of flexibility in his shaping of phrase, and the sheer beauty of his sound helps lend the cerebral an enticing touch of the sensual”, wrote Stephen Pettitt in the Evening Standard. With the two-part Inventions and three-part Sinfonias Fellner now illuminates the magic of Bach’s allegedly just didactic piano pieces from 1722/23, in which he offered a method of polyphonic playing and composing. Interspersed is a vividly swinging account of Bach’s fifth French Suite in G-major.

FLY – SKY & COUNTRY
ECM2067     602517950412

Mark Turner: tenor and soprano saxophones, Larry Grenadier: double-bass, Jeff Ballard: drums

ECM debut for Fly, leaderless collective comprised of three influential American jazz musicians. The group was called into existence by drummer Jeff Ballard in the mid-1990s, but draws on a longer history of shared projects. All three players write music for the group. Mark Turner: “Sometimes it’s the saxophone carrying the melody. Other times it’s the bass or drums. We spread out the frontline duties among us.” “Sky & Country” is issued on the eve of a tour that takes in dates on both East and West coasts of the US as well concerts in France, Austria and Belgium.

Nils Økland: Hardanger fiddle, viola d´amore, violin

First ECM solo album from the Norwegian violinist who has made gained many friends for his work with the Christian Wallumrød Ensemble. Økland’s solo music is strongly inspired by the rich Norwegian fiddle tradition and its freedom, variation and individuality, yet what he plays is not purely ‘folk music’ rather a reinvention of folk forms, with free improvisation and contemporary composition also powerful influences. The ‘personality’ of the instruments themselves is also an inspiration: on “Monograph” Økland makes the most of the ‘drone’ qualities of the viola d’amore and the Hardanger fiddle (he plays both old and modern models) as well as an old violin from 1700, in a recital of subtle and melodic invention.

MARK SINAN – FASIL
ECM2076    602517731547

Marc Sinan: guitar, Yelena Kuljic: vocal, Lena Thies: viola, Julia Hülsmann: piano, Marc Muellbauer: double-bass, Heinrich Köbberling: drums, percussion

Fasil, based on an idea by guitarist Marc Sinan and author Marc Schiffer, tells of the life of Aisha, the great love and youngest wife of the prophet Mohammed, in the course of an inspired song cycle. The improvisations take as their inspirational starting point fragments of Koran recitations recorded by Marc Sinan in Turkey. Together with Julia Hülsmann’s songs they form an Ottoman suite, a Fasil. Highlights in this transcultural project include exceptional performances by Sinan himself, and by Yelena Kuljić in the role of Aisha. The singer was recently described by the Frankfurter Rundschau as “the most thrilling new voice in the current jazz scene.”

JON HASSELL – LAST NIGHT THE MOON CAME...
ECM2077    602517926363

Jon Hassell: trumpet, keyboard, Peter Freeman: bass, laptop, Jan Bang: live sampling, Jamie Muhoberac: keyboard, laptop, Rick Cox: guitar, loops, Kheir Eddine M’Kachiche: violin, Eivind Aarset: guitar, Helge Norbakken: drums, Pete Lockett: drums

25 years after his highly influential “Power Spot” album, Jon Hasssell returns to ECM with his collective Maarifa Street and some spacious Fourth World dub-montage music, his uniquely vocal trumpet sailing forth into mysterious soundscapes. Jon Hassell describes “Last night the moon” as “a continuous piece, almost symphonic, with a cinematic construction” and drifting “clouds made out of many motifs”. Core material is drawn from a session at Studios La Buisonne near Avignon in April 2008, with detail added in Los Angeles in November and December. Live recordings from Courtrais, Belgium and London, as well as a remix of a piece originally created for a Wim Wenders movie, are also integrated into the atmospheric, filmic flow, along with short samples snared throughout 2008.

VASSILIS TSABROPOULOS – THE PROMISE
ECM2081    602517733770

Vassilis Tsabropoulos: piano

The versatile Greek pianist has already outlined a broad arc of musical possibility in his recordings for ECM – from post-Bill Evans jazz with Arild Andersen to explorations of Gurdjieff’s nomadic sound-world with Anja Lechner. “The Promise” picks up the implications of his earlier solo recital “Akroasis” (“Hypnotic and mysterious, shimmering like ancient mosaics” – The Independent), but is more rigorously composed, carefully casting arpeggios into deep pools of silence. All pieces are Tsabropoulos originals, with the exception of “Djivaeri”, a Greek traditional tune. The album was recorded in 2008 in the resonant space of Athens’ Megaron Concert Hall, with Manfred Eicher producing.