The essential, as the cover of ECM’s first true compilation so quietly proclaims, may no longer be visible, but it sure is audible. Unlike the classical New Series Anthology, which took an unexpected dip into ECM proper, here the label’s formative mining of (mostly) European jazz idioms (and idiom-breakers) fills in the clothing it was born to wear. Although one might expect a collection from a catalogue already so vast to span its then-28-year history, amazingly all of its tracks come from albums released in 1997, a critical year for all involved.
- 1 Svantetic
- 2 Gorrión
- 3 Morning
- 4 Tale Of Saverio
- 5 Hyperborean / Patch Of Light
- 6 Morning Heavy Song
- 7 Creature Talk
- 8 Desolation Sound
- 9 Motherless Child
- 10 Past Present
- 11 Siegfried And Roy
- 12 Free Above Sea
- 13 Sleep Safe And Warm
- 14 Nothing Ever Was, Anyway.
