REVINYLIZATION

ECM is back in the vinyl game

- ROBERT BAIRD

Given his seemingly endless stream of ideas, virtuoso instrumentalism, and considerable wealth of recordings, Keith Jarrett is a creative universe unto himself. He began his recording career on Atlantic Records and recorded for several labels, including Impulse!, along the way, but it was on Manfred Eicher's label ECM that he first broke through to worldwide fame in 1973, with the 3-LP set Keith Jarrett, Solo Concerts: Bremen/Lausanne. Considering its landmark status, it's fitting that the album is among the first releases in ECM's new Luminessence vinyl series, reissued in its original triple-vinyl form.

ECM began as a vinyl label in 1969, releasing ECM 1001-Mal Waldron's Free at Last-in 1970. By 1992, ECM albums were being released on CD only. The label's transition back to vinyl was a long time coming. With fresh lacquers cut from the original master tapes and pressed at Record Industry in Germany, this new series marks a sea change in ECM's trajectory as a label. In 2017, ECM became one of the last labels to make their catalog available for streaming. They've now become one of the very last to begin reissuing albums on vinyl. Like all things ECM, including which titles are to be reissued, the decision to jump back into the world of 12" LPs undoubtedly comes from ECM co-founder and continuing inspiration Manfred Eicher.

Jarrett's Solo Concerts: Bremen/Lausanne was followed a year later by the Jarrett/ Jan Garbarek album Luminessence: Music for String Orchestra and Saxophone (1974), which the vinyl-reissue series is named for. Bremen/Lausanne came two years before the most famous Jarrett album, 1975's The Köln Concert, which has yet to be reissued on Luminessence.