Duets between guitarist Terje Rypdal and pianist Ketil Bjornstad. CD

Groundbreaking sounds from the Norwegian scene of the late 60s – an album that's got George Russell's name on the cover, but which actually features brilliant performances from a quartet who'd go onto become huge names in the ECM scene of the 70s! Yet the sound here is quite different than ECM, too – very full and free – with vibrant work that really illuminates the younger years of these musicians – a sublime quartet that includes Jan Garbarek on tenor and soprano sax, Terje Rypdal on guitar, Arild Anderson on bass, and Jon Cristensen on drums! Some tunes are quite free, while others have a spiritual sense of soul that's equally grat – and throughout the record, all players express themselves in an unfettered way – with visionary performances on tracks that include "Nefertiti", "Traneflight", "Esoteric Circle", "SAS 644", "Karin's Mode", and "Breeze Ending". CD

Terje Rypdal on guitar, Bjorn Kjellemyr on bass, and Audun Kleive on drums – accompanied by a string trio. CD

With Ketil Bjornstad on piano. CD

Terje Rypdal on guitar, Bugge Wesseltoft on electric piano and synthesizer, Pal Mikkelborg on trumpet, Bjorn Kjellemyr on bass, Jon Christensen on drums, and others. CD

Features Terje Rypdal on guitars, with Bjorn Kjellemyr on basses and Audun Kleive on drums – plus a bit of light strings on a few cuts! CD

Features Palle Mikkelborg on trumpet and Jon Christensen on drums! CD

A legendary session from the early years of ECM – one of those records that really helped set the tone of the label for years to come! The album's definitely on the more avant side of the spectrum, and is a great reminder of how much ECM contributed to European free jazz at the start – with fantastic interplay from a group led by reedman Jan Garbarek on tenor, bass sax, flutes, clarinet, and percussion – in a quartet with Terje Rypdal on guitar, Jon Christensen on percussion, and Arild Andersen on bass, xylophone, and kalimba! The tracks vary in length, and the players all shift instruments nicely – on titles that include "Myb", "Blow Away Zone", "Afric Pepperbird", "Scarabee", and "Beast Of Kommodo". CD

Classic early ECM recordings by saxophonist Jan Garbarek – with contributions from John Taylor on organ, Ralph Towner and Egberto Gismonti on guitars, Terje Rypdal on electric guitar, Bobo Stenson on piano, and Nana Vasconcelos on percussion! CD

Groundbreaking sounds from the Norwegian scene of the late 60s – an album that's got George Russell's name on the cover, but which actually features brilliant performances from a quartet who'd go onto become huge names in the ECM scene of the 70s! Yet the sound here is quite different than ECM, too – very full and free – with vibrant work that really illuminates the younger years of these musicians – a sublime quartet that includes Jan Garbarek on tenor and soprano sax, Terje Rypdal on guitar, Arild Anderson on bass, and Jon Cristensen on drums! Some tunes are quite free, while others have a spiritual sense of soul that's equally grat – and throughout the record, all players express themselves in an unfettered way – with visionary performances on tracks that include "Nefertiti", "Traneflight", "Esoteric Circle", "SAS 644", "Karin's Mode", and "Breeze Ending". CD

Three groundbreaking albums from reedman Jan Garbarek – packaged in a single set! First up is Sart – a great example of the way that ECM helped to bring the voice of the Scandinavian jazz underground to the world at large – as the album's a key showcase for the talents of budding young modernists Jan Garbarek, Bobo Stenson, Terje Rypdal, and Arild Andersen! The record's got a really unusual quality that's quite different from the more jamming fusion or freer jazz of the mid European scene – a sense that plays with space between the notes as much as it does the sounds of the individual instruments, and which seems perfectly cast for the newer style of jazz recording pioneered by ECM. Garbarek plays tenor, bass, and flute on the record; Stenson is on electric and acoustic piano; Rypdal on guitar, Andersen on acoustic (but amplified?) bass, and Jon Christensen is on drums. Titles include "IRR", "Song Of Space", "Close Enough For Jazz", "Sart", and "Fountain Of Tears". Witchi Tai To is warm and wonderful sounds from Garbarek – and a record that brings together so many strands at once! There's of course the obvious atmospherics you might expect from a 70s set on ECM – but there's also some sharply modern moments too – that harder sound that the label was endorsing while helping to shape the world of European jazz on both sides of the fence. And there's even some surprisingly soulful moments, too – not just from Jan's work on tenor and soprano sax, but also from the piano of Bobo Stenson – which rings out wonderfully amidst subtle bass from Palle Danielsson and drums from Jon Christensen. Titles include a great version of Jim Pepper's "Witchi Tai To", plus "Hasta Siempre", "AIR", and "Desireless". Dansere is one of the highlights of saxophonist Jan Garbarek at ECM – and a set that has him working with the well-matched lineup of Bobo Stenson on piano, Palle Danielsson on bass, and Jon Christensen on drums! The shape of the songs is a bit looser than before, but Garbarek and Stenson turn out to be perfect in the setting – opening up, stretching out, and breaking down convention – yet also never losing themselves in self-indulgence either. Titles include "Dansere", "Lokk", "Fris", "Til Vennene", and "Skrik & Hyl". CD

John Surman on baritone and soprano saxophones, bass clarinet, recorder, synthesizer, and keyboards, Miroslav Vitous on double-bass, Kenny Kirkland on piano, Jon Christensen on drums, John Abercrombie on guitar, Marc Johnson on double-bass, Peter Erskine on drums, Stephen Waterman, Henry Lowther, and Stuart Brooks on trumpet, Malcolm Griffiths and Chris Pyne on trombone, David Stewart and Richard Edwards on bass trombone, Chris Laurence on double bass, John Marshall on drums, Jack DeJohnette on drums, Barre Phillips on double-bass, Stu Martin on drums, Paul Bley on piano, Gary Peacock on double-bass, Tony Oxley on drums, Terje Rypdal on guitar, Vigleik Stgoraas on piano, Rita Manning on violin, Keith Pascoe on violin, Bill Hawkes on viola, and Nick Cooper on cello. CD