That's Why I'm ECM: Manfred Eicher 80

 

Magico - Palhaço

It's way late for this, but I was trying to figure out what show to put up for this one and it took all day.

I'll try to keep it short and to the point, two qualities with which I struggle.

The man of the hour isn't really a musician per se at all, but definitely someone who's a specialist at enabling musicians and giving them a home for their recorded output.

He began his label at the outset of the 1970s, and it's been a definitive imprint ever since, with hundreds of albums and as recognizable an aesthetic as any in the history of the industry.

I've shared a zillion shows here by artists with whom he's been affiliated and produced, so let's add one more in honor of the 80th birthday of Manfred Eicher, the founder of ECM.

I picked this one because it's a performance of a full ECM album -- and a beautiful one at that -- from 1979 and featuring an all-galaxy trio of guys who all have stuff on the label, spanning across the decades.

If there was ever a group that lived up to its name -- and sort of exemplified the ECM vibe as well as any could -- it's Mágico.
Mágico
Berliner Jazztage
Philharmonie
Berlin, Germany
10.31.1979

01 Bailarina
02 Mágico
03 Silence
04 Palhaço
05 Spor

Total time: 1:00:25

Egberto Gismonti - piano & guitars
Jan Garbarek - saxophones
Charlie Haden - bass

sounds like a master off-air FM reel
slightly retracked -- with volume increased +.5 dB throughout -- by EN, July 2023
284 MB FLAC/direct link

I'll be back Wednesday -- and then again on Friday -- with two wildly divergent posts, but I've wanted to tribute Manfred Eicher and ECM forever, and the fact that he was born this day in 1943 proved irresistible to my ears!--J.