Jazz & Improvisation / Free Improvisation

Solo album by Mat Maneri on acoustic violin and viola: his own compositions and pieces by Matthew Shipp, Joe Morris, John Coltrane, Eric Dolphy and Joe Maneri, recorded July 1999 at Gateway Studio, Kingston, produced by Steve Lake. CD, 2001.

Astrakan Café is a 2000 ECM album by Tunisian oud player Anouar Brahem with Turkish clarinettist Barbaros Erköse and percussionist Lassad Hosni, recorded in June 1999 at the Propstei St. Gerold, Austria, and produced by Manfred Eicher.

Recorded live at Théâtre Monnot, Beirut on 10 July 2005 at the 5th Irtijal Festival of Improvised Music. Mixed and mastered at The Experimental Sound Studio, Chicago. Limited edition of 1000 numbered copies

First duo album by Joe Maneri (alto and tenor saxophones, clarinet, piano) and his son Mat Maneri (acoustic and electric violins, electric viola), recorded October 1997 at Hardstudios, Winterthur, produced by Steve Lake.

Duo album by violinist Dominique Pifarély and pianist François Couturier: nine pieces, mostly their own plus Mal Waldron's Warm Canto, recorded April 1997 at the Festeburgkirche, Frankfurt, produced by Manfred Eicher.

Solo piano concert by Keith Jarrett, recorded live at the Teatro alla Scala, Milan, on 13 February 1995: two improvised sets and Over The Rainbow. Remixed at Rainbow Studio, released by ECM in 1997.

Trio album by pianist Michael Cain, trumpeter Ralph Alessi and saxophonist Peter Epstein, without bass or drums. Recorded in August 1996 at Rainbow Studio, Oslo, produced by Manfred Eicher, released by ECM in 1997.

Free improvisations by Paul Bley (piano), Evan Parker (tenor and soprano saxophones) and Barre Phillips (double bass), the first recorded Bley/Parker meeting. Recorded January 1994 at Rainbow Studio, Oslo, produced by Steve Lake. ECM 1537, 1995.

Free improvisation session by Paul Bley (piano), Gary Peacock (bass), Tony Oxley (drums) and John Surman (baritone saxophone, bass clarinet), recorded September 1991 at Rainbow Studio, Oslo, produced by Manfred Eicher. ECM 1488, released 1993.

Solo piano improvisations by Keith Jarrett, recorded live at the Vienna State Opera on 13 July 1991 in two parts of about 42 and 26 minutes. Produced by Manfred Eicher and Jarrett. ECM 1481, 1992.

Solo piano concert by Keith Jarrett, recorded on 17 October 1988 at the Salle Pleyel, Paris, and released by ECM in 1990: a 38-minute improvisation, Russ Freeman's The Wind and Jarrett's Blues.

Live trio album by Keith Jarrett, Gary Peacock and Jack DeJohnette: four long improvised pieces recorded at concerts in Lexington, Dallas, Houston and Denver in October 1987, released by ECM in 1989.

Chick Corea, Miroslav Vitous and Roy Haynes reunited in 1981: trio and duo improvisations plus seven Thelonious Monk pieces, recorded November 1981 at Mad Hatter Studios, Los Angeles, produced by Manfred Eicher. Originally a double album (ECM 1232/33, 1982), here on one CD.

Keith Jarrett's solo piano concert recorded live on 16 July 2016 at the Philharmonie im Gasteig, Munich, the last night of his European tour: twelve improvised parts and three encores. 2LP, ECM 2667/68, released 2019.

Recorded at Axel's house. Berlin. July 2004. December 2005. Limited edition of 200

Miroslav Vitous's first ECM album as leader in ten years: duets with Michel Portal, pieces with Jack DeJohnette and two suites with Esperanza Spalding, Bob Mintzer and orchestra, recorded 2003-2010 at his Universal Syncopations studio and produced with Manfred Eicher. LP edition.

Chick Corea's first solo piano album, improvised at the Arne Bendiksen Studio in Oslo on 21 and 22 April 1971, produced by Manfred Eicher and first released by ECM in 1971. Luminessence LP reissue in gatefold sleeve.

By 1958, Albert Ayler and his horn had made some rounds: from boy prodigy to teenage member of Little Walter's Blues Band, from "Little Bird" of Cleveland to featured US Army Band soloist. Then he resolutely set out to forget everything he'd ever learned about how to properly play the sax so that he could really PLAY it -- unhinged, free from strictures of pitch and form, drawing on spirituals, folksong, marches, and other big whopping chunks of collective musical memory -- to channel symphonies…