May Luminessence Releases

As Part of ECM’s Audiophile Luminessence Vinyl Series, the Label Releases John Abercrombie, Dave Holland & Jack DeJohnette’s 1975 Album Gateway and

Kenny Wheeler, Lee Konitz, Dave Holland & Bill Frisell’s 1997 Release Angel Song

Available Today

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ECM’s audiophile vinyl-reissue series Luminessence greets summer with two remarkable recordings from the catalogue: The first-ever vinyl release of Angel Song and the unique trio coming-together of Gateway, out 31 May.

The Luminessence series is a kaleidoscope, shedding light on the jewels of the label’s deep catalogue in elegant, high-quality editions. The hallmarks of the series: original and evocative music, imaginatively played and sensitively produced. The recordings underline the scope and variety of ECM’s world of sound and the LPs are presented in different formats.

With “daring and visionary spirit”, to quote a DownBeat review from the year of this album’s release, master improvisers John Abercrombie, Dave Holland and Jack DeJohnette forged a unique vision of trio interplay on their first joint effort under the Gateway moniker. The trio tackles Holland and DeJohnette originals with a visionary idea of what three-way conversations in jazz could sound like. As The Observer remarked in an article of the time, “the telepathic ensemble playing and perfect execution make it difficult to believe that this music is almost completely improvised.” The players’ respectively unique instrumental signatures had already fully crystallized here, hinting at the music to come.  

The Luminessence edition of the album arrives in a tip-on gatefold, complete with previously unseen archival photos and new liner notes by Wilco’s Nels Cline.

“One thing most recordings on the label share in common is the capturing of special moments in real time. That is what “Gateway” is, what it feels like so many years later, for as long as we have ears to listen.” — from the liner notes by Nels Cline.

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“Destined to go down in history as a jazz classic” was the verdict with which The Guardian greeted this album on its release in 1997, saying, “Wheeler’s compositions and four of the world’s greatest improvisers make for a tranquil set that rewards with every listening. This is beautiful, golden music.” Angel Song is among the apexes of the label’s catalogue, uniting four master-improvisers – each with a unique artistic identity – in an intimate, drummer-less quartet session. Kenny Wheeler is the composer of the nine hauntingly lyrical chamber-elaborations and endows them with his singular timbre on flugelhorn and trumpet in expressive melodic exchanges with alto saxophonist Lee Konitz. Dave Holland’s bass-foundation is as compelling as ever, giving Bill Frisell all the freedom for harmony-encompassing improvisation. The verdict of The Times was equally jubilant: “This is a stirringly beautiful album: Holland’s lithe dependability providing the anchor for the dignified sonorousness of Konitz, the flickering grace of Frisell and the plangent tenderness of Wheeler himself.”

The album is released on vinyl for the very first time as part of the Luminessence series and is presented as a tip-on gatefold.

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Further titles to be released as part of the Luminessence series are Madar, the one-time coming together of three improvisational forces from multiple musical heritages with Jan Garbarek, oud-master Anouar Brahem and tabla-legend Ustad Shaukat Hussain as well as Annette Peacock’s An Acrobat’s Heart, Marilyn Crispell with Amaryllis, Pat Metheny’s Bright Size Life, Rainer Brüninghaus with Freigeweht, Zakir Hussain’s Making Music with Hariprasad Chaurasia, John McLaughlin and Jan Garbarek and Bennie Maupin’s long out of print The Jewel and The Lotus. More will follow.

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