ECM Has Issued This Month Seven Classic Titles on Vinyl Cut From Analog Master Tapes

ECM recently announced the reissue on 180g vinyl of seven adventurous titles from the label's vast catalog. These LPs have been cut using the original analog master tapes, according to ECM.

Rather than reissuing "the usual suspects" ECM has chosen "free jazz" saxophonist Sam Rivers' Contrasts, Miroslav Vitous Group's eponymously titled second ECM release from 1980, Gary Burton's Seven Songs For Quartet and Chamber Orchestra from 1973, Keith Jarrett's Arbor Zena (a 1975 release with Charlie Haden and Jan Garbarek+ strings), Jarrett's Ritual featuring conductor Dennis Russell Davies playing the Keith Jarrett composition on piano, Ralph Towner and John Abercrombie's Five Years later, and Abdullah Ibrahim's African Piano a solo piano set recorded in a noisy Copenhagen club and reissued more for its musical importance than for its sonics.

If this series proves successful who knows what else might be released on ECM vinyl? These titles will also be issued on CD and as high resolution downloads.

COMMENTS
amandela50's picture

Mikey:

Your updates on exciting new releases are sending me to the poor house. First, the lovely JazzHaus reissues, and now these lovely ECMs. Your killin' my checking account, but my ears sincerely thank you, just as Amazon keeps thanking me.

Paul Boudreau's picture

No lie!  Then there's finding the time to clean & listen to it all.  I have many ECMs but none of those mentioned, for example.

Jim Tavegia's picture

Great LP, but I'll bet this one, remastered, is even better.  Good price off Amazon. Under $30 including shipping. 

jlow34's picture

Michael,

Any word on whether they are sourced from analog tapes to digital to vinyl, or whether it is an ALL ANALOG signal chain?  The original ECMs are amongst my favorites in my collection, but some of these rare ones would be great if ALL ANALOG.

Michael Fremer's picture

Did you not read the headline?

AnalogJ's picture

"Analog"- that's some sort of social website, right?

audiof001's picture

I've always loved ECM Records. Got my first Terje Rypdal lp 'What Comes After' in 1973-74 when a stranger came up to me while browsing record racks and handed it, along with Michael Mantler lp, to me and said 'Buy these records. They will change your life.' They certainly did... thank you kind stranger!

Speaking of the older issues, I believe the German label ECM records from back in the day were primarily analog, depending on their origin dates. The Warner Brothers ECM lps are likely a mix of analog and digital. One story I heard was that Steve Tibbetts master of 'Safe Jouorney' was lost and the digital master had to be used for the American pressings. As a rule, I try to collect ther European pressings. Fingers crossed that these new remasters are all analog.

Michael Fremer's picture

Did you not read the headline?

AnalogJ's picture

ECM Germany for many years continued to press Lps. I remember placing an order directly to me from their website several years ago. Interestingly, the same records in US pressings have a distinctly different tonal sound.

Paul Boudreau's picture

In what way?  Just curious.

AnalogJ's picture

The difference between the Germans and the US, and I'm talking vinyl pressings here (Michael, you can elaborate on the joke here), the latter's soundstage is much closer and rhythmically seem a bit more quick. German pressings have have leaner, but more extended bass, and overall, tubier. I think there are advantages to each. I have played both of the same record to friends and all hear a clear difference. 

ViciAudio's picture

I remember reading somewhere that these ECM releases of their back catalogue on vinyl are being pressed from the old stampers, not remastered. Did you confirm that they are indeed remastered from tape and not just repressed from the old metal parts?

coaster92's picture

I dont think Sam Rivers "Contrasts" ever even came out on CD. The music is avant garde jazz, and will have limited appeal to "mainstream" listeners. Content wise ECM was always more art minded than commercial minded. Although some of its titles must have sold a lot more than they expected (Keith Jarrett Koln Concert for example). It is good to see them dig into some of the more avant garde and experimental  projects they have done over the years.

The sound quality of their recordings was all over the map from when they started and on into the 70's- until we get into the CD age and by the late 80's most ECM CD's have an easily identifiable sonic character regardless of the artist...which was usually a very clear sound with full bass, and some added reverb. I think the CD's had very good sound overall in spite of the added reverb (some purists dont like ECM for this reason). You could definitely do worse with jazz on CD for sonics...at least with ECM stuff of the last 25 or 30 years, you pretty much knew what you were gonna get.

ECM Lp pressings were both analog and digital sources/recordings and were done in German and US pressings- the US pressings were done by Polygram initially and then changed to Warner Brothers because, so the story goes (the source of story is what ECM US distributor told the owner of a Record store I frequented), ECM was not happy with the quality of the US Polygram pressings (noisy?). I've found that noise wise its a crap shoot whether Polygram or Warner.

The few comparisons of ECM Lp to ECM CD I have done was not always a slam dunk for the Lp version- actually sometimes I thought the CD was better- leading me to believe ECM might have cut from digital sources when they shifted to CD, or the quality of their Lp's just dropped off.  I think the better sounding ECM Lp's I've heard were done from the late 70's on up to about 1980 or whenever they went to digital recording (which was very early). They are the analog ones from Tonstudio Bauer and engineered by Martin Wieland. "Contrasts" is an analog Tonstudio Bauer/Wieland recording, others include titles by Paul Motian and Kenny Wheeler. From the early 80's onwards most ECM Lp's and CD's are from digital sources.(DDD).

BliggigtyBlah's picture

Any word if ECM will be issuing more AAA releases for 2015?

1001's picture

invitation to visit ecm-collector.com to explore data.

German ECM Vinyl was pressed on the same machines as DG.

Btw, the Compact Disc was already there in 1977...

To my information Denon was doing DDA as early as ' 71 or around that year

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