Sep 14 2016
Recommended: Anat Fort Trio with Gianluigi Trovesi – “Birdwatching”
There’s those lazy Saturday mornings when the sunlight blankets the room in warmth and a solemn peacefulness hangs in the air and you don’t move an inch for fear that any motion at all would dispel the massive tranquility. The latest from pianist Anat Fort is your soundtrack for those times. Thoughtful interactions and gentle solos mark the enjoyable set Birdwatching, as does the way in which the quartet of alto clarinetist Gianluigi Trovesi, bassist Gary Wang and drummer Roland Schneider allows the music to settle into silent pauses like stones breaking the water’s surface just prior to drifting slowly to the ocean floor. Tracks like “Not the Perfect Storm” and “Jumpin’ In” add a welcome dose of edge here and there and the occasional rhythmic outburst to keep things from ever getting sleepy, but make no mistake… this is dreamy music for dreamy afternoons.
As long as there are sunrises, I will listen to the music of Anat Fort.
Your album personnel: Anat Fort (piano), Gianluigi Trovesi (alto clarinet), Gary Wang (double bass) and Roland Schneider (drums).
Released on ECM Records.
Jazz from the Tel Aviv, Israel scene.
Available at: Amazon
Bill Thompson
September 15, 2016 @ 1:32 pm
Dave, as always thanks for this. I was just streaming the new Ryuichi Sakamoto record on NPR Music and found the same peaceful beauty in it. I am often at that place on a Saturday or Sunday morning with “nowhere” to go. I was wondering, is there somewhere on Soundcloud or elsewhere that ECM music is featured?
davesumner
September 15, 2016 @ 6:42 pm
Hey, Bill.
As far as finding ECM releases to embed on my site, the internet is pretty barren. I know ECM Records Radio on iTunes was getting some shout-outs, but I never really looked into it. I’ve never joined Spotify. I joined Pandora waaaaay back in the day, and it’s been years, though, since I last used it. But it would play some ECM stuff. Don’t know if that’s changed. Back on ECM’s old site, they’d stream one album track on each album page, but that seems to have gone away.
I love the label, but in my experience, they are very internet discovery unfriendly.
I can definitely dig what (I think) you’re looking for, because it’s something I’ve wanted to have many times… a one-stop shop where I can just dive into the ECM catalog, at least hear three or four tracks from each album, and then buy the ones I like. Unfortunately, I’ve never found an option to do that. But I’m not the final word on that, so there could be somebody out there who could point you in the right direction. I just kinda figured if there was, I’d probably know about it by now. If you hear of something, let me know. There’s so many of their older releases I’d really like to dig into.
Cheers,
Dave