Keith Jarrett and Jan Garbarek Jarrett's :rarum volume.

As such, it is understandable that a new best-of series by ECM recordings, entitled :rarum, might strike us, at first, as a business-as-usual manoeuvre. It is not -- principally because ECM is not a business-as-usual kind of record label. Since 1969, Manfred Eicher and company have been releasing albums, carving a niche for a very unusual conglomeration of modern classical and jazz music. You might wonder how ECM, with artists who range from having "avant-garde" to "new age" style tags, those banes of the record bin existence, maintains a singular reputation as a label, given its catholic tastes. I think that a number of commonalities about ECM's approach help the listener to appreciate the label's vision. One is the characteristic high quality of sonic production, which has stood out as a principal virtue from ECM's very first releases. Another is the tasteful visual presentation common to all releases; subdued colors and attractively muted designs appear on the CD booklets and record jackets, but the black and white photos within very often capture the essence and energy of the recording artists. However, these production values are not window dressing -- they are a reflection of the care with which ECM handles many aspects of a recording, and none more so than the music. Whether it is classical repertoire from the 18th Century, a live jazz trio in 2003, or the most challenging of modern composers, the label's strategy seems to mirror Duke Ellington's oft-mentioned philosophy: "There are only two kinds of music: Good and Bad." ECM strives to find and release the Good, and much of what they have recorded can only be depicted as such, frustrating as that may be to nay-sayers and pessimistic critic-types.

With such a vast catalog of recordings released in the past 34 years, and much of it out-of-print and (to my chagrin) elusive to find, :rarum serves several goals. The label's best-of series is actually not only a welcome entry point for those just getting on the modern jazz/classical band wagon, but also a way for old hands to hear a taste of some of the LPs/CDs that they have missed out on. What's more, the career-spanning overview that is often provided can prove enlightening as to the wide-ranging interests of many of ECM's featured artists. Each volume of :rarum was done in collaboration with the musician in question; many decisions in terms of track selection were left to the artists themselves. For those who have moth-balled their turntables (for shame!), many tracks appear in :rarum on CD for the first time. Once selected, the tracks were remastered to 96khz/24-bits -- of interest to audiophiles who upsample -- and the volumes are packaged in handsome monochrome cardboard cases.

This month I will provide overviews of the first four, already released, installments of :rarum. Next month, I will look at Volumes V-VIII. Later in 2003, I will review the next set of volumes in the series.

:rarum I - Keith Jarrett: One of two of the volumes in the series, to date, that is a double CD. As Jarrett has appeared on nearly sixty recordings for ECM, this seems only fitting! While most people associate Keith Jarrett with jazz piano, his selections for this set remind us that he is a composer and multi-instrumentalist as well, with a strong classical background and an interest in free improvisation as well as jazz. CD 1 opens with several pieces for the baroque keyboard instrument the clavichord. Pieces follow on which Jarrett performs all of the instruments: the wind and percussion parts as well as the piano. There are also examples of his pipe organ performances. Some of his improvised solo piano works are featured, including the last section of his famous 1981 concert in Munich -- the stand-out amongst these solo pieces, in my opinion, in terms of harmonic interest and formal trajectory. His collaborations are also present, both with saxophonist Jan Garbarek and Jarrett's now-famous trio, with Jack DeJohnette and Gary Peacock.

On the whole, the set provides a broad overview of his activities. I would have favored the inclusion of more of Jarrett's collaborative work, as it is where I enjoy him most, or that I wish that this track or that track had made it onto the set, but I won't split hairs needlessly. It would have been nice to include one of his lovely recordings of a piece from the standard classical repertoire, but Jarrett seemed to favor selecting original compositions. I am sure that there were some hard choices, too; in his introductory essay, Jarrett mentions several tracks that he would have preferred to include, which were simply too long to accommodate without excluding other significant material. In fact, he returns over and over again to the term "sampler" in his liner notes. Even as samplers go, this one includes a wide variety of stuff, while only scratching the surface of Jarrett's recording activities for ECM.

:rarum II - Jan Garbarek: Another double-CD, this one immediately highlights the adventurous character of Garbarek's saxophone-playing with the minute-and-a-half long, squalling tenor sax/double bass duet "Skrik and Hyl". This is quickly replaced by the more evocative side of Garbarek's sound in another duet with guitarist Ralph Towner, this one Eastern-tinged and drone-laden. The duet hat-trick is completed by track three of CD 1, on which Garbarek keens in microtonal splendor over the densities of organist Kjell Johnsen. As one can see from just this small sampling, Garbarek's is a wide-ranging entry in the :rarum series. In his selections, the saxophonist chose to depict his work as a leader on the first CD and his collaborative exploits on the second.

We hear Garbarek in the world music vein, with such artists as violinist Shankar and vocalist Ustad Fateh Ali Khan. There are ambient improvisations with guitarists such as Bill Frisell and David Torn, collaborations with Keith Jarrett, and solo works where Garbarek takes on the role of multi-instrumentalist. He also appears as a soloist in front of a string orchestra (playing a Jarrett composition), and closes out the second CD with a selection from one of my favorite of his collaborations, his "Officium" work with the Hilliard Ensemble. On this piece, "Parce Mihi Domine", Garbarek solos over an all-male vocal ensemble singing liturgical music by Renaissance composer Christabal de Morales. What seems at first like it might be a style clash, and irreverent to boot, comes across as a spiritual meditation in execution.

:rarum III - Chick Corea: This single disc is the first of two recordings that Chick Corea will contribute to the series. In this first volume, he focuses on his jazz efforts; the second disc will feature chamber music. Thirteen cuts are split up between three of Corea's ECM-recorded ensembles -- the group Return to Forever, his duo with vibraphonist Gary Burton, and his trio with bassist Miroslav Vitous and drummer Roy Haynes.

The selections are also well balanced, featuring Corea originals, ensemble improvisations, and an engaging handful of standards by composers such as Thelonious Monk and Cole Porter. The interplay between Burton and Corea is something to behold. The shimmering percussive swirl they create is particularly brilliant on "What Game Shall We Play Today" and "Mirror, Mirror". The interpretations of Monk tunes are special as well. No one can imitate the way that Thelonious Monk hit the piano keys, and Corea wisely does not try. His more virtuosic touch notwithstanding, he always allows the roughly swinging underlying accents of Monk's original renditions to guide his intentions, to singular effect. Haynes has always been one of my favorite jazz drummers. His melodic sensibility when articulating rhythms at the drum kit and fine textural ear are both on full display here.

:rarum IV - Gary Burton: Vibraphonist Gary Burton took a slightly different approach with his :rarum recording. Rather than including a sampler of both his collaborations on others' recordings and his dates as a leader, he decided to focus on his own groups exclusively, over a fifteen year period of time (1972-1987). Presented chronologically, the nine included tracks allow us to perceive the evolution both of the personnel and musical inclinations of the group.

Starting out with guitarist Mick Goodrick in a group dubbed the "New Quartet", we hear Burton's ensemble burst into life on "Four or Less". Soon, Burton added a second guitarist -- Pat Metheny -- and expanded the group into the "Gary Burton Quintet". An impressionistic turn with Eberhard Weber's "Colors of Chloe" on a 1974 recording which added bassist Weber to the quintet's line-up, shows an effective interaction between the two guitarists. Metheny played 12 string in order to differentiate his timbre from Goodrick's. After Goodrick's departure, Metheny remained with the group, once again a quartet, as its sole guitarist, contributing compositions as well, represented here by "B and G (A Midwestern Night's Dream)". This track's atmospheric demeanor seems to foreshadow textural elements that would later be in evidence on Pat Metheny Group records.

Burton's collaborations with pianist Makato Ozone during the 1980s are depicted on by a potent trio of cuts. The intricately spun counterpoint between piano and vibraphone on Carla Bley's "Syndrome" mirror some of the tightest moments on the Corea/Burton duo recordings. Both Ozone and Burton's solos permeate the atmosphere with exuberance. Fresh out of Berklee School of Music and already a force to be reckoned with, one can see why Ozone was an inspired addition to Burton's already formidable list of ensemble collaborators. This :rarum release features several bands, but the shuffling of personnel never causes Gary Burton to lose focus on his musical vision as a small group leader.

Next Month: Four more :rarum recordings -- Bill Frisell, Art Ensemble of Chicago, Bobo Stenson, and Terje Rypdal.

-- Christian Carey