ECM

One of the stablemates of the early ECM sound, the Jan Garbarek Group incorporated a smooth ethereal jazz sound led by Norwegian tenor and soprano saxaphonist Jan Garbarek. Their sound also uses ambient elements which at the time of his popularity was not even an established genre. He has collaborated with some famous jazz musicians, most notably, Paul Motian, Gary Burton, Keith Jarrett and Ralph Towner.

Guitarist Ivar Grydeland and percussionist Ingar Zach, prime movers and catalysts for free improvised music in Norway, got in touch with Christian Wallumrød after hearing his “Sofienberg Variations” on ECM and they have since worked together in diverse combinations including, since 2004, ‘Dans les arbres’ a project completed by French clarinettist Xavier Charles. Their radical all-acoustic improvisation explores sonorities and textures that frequently sound electronic, and also often sounds ‘composed’ – with echoes of Cage and the New York School.

Read more about Dans Les Arbres on Last.fm.

Anouar Brahem (Arabic: أنور ابراهم) is a Tunisian oud (middle eastern lute) player and composer who is widely regarded as an innovator in his field. Performing for primarily a jazz audience, he fuses arabic classical music, folk music and jazz and has been recording since at least 1991 after becoming prominent in his own country in the late 1980s. Brahem began studying the oud at age 10 under the tutelage of Ali Sitri at the National Conservatory of Music in Tunis. In 1987, after six years in Paris, he spent two years as the director of the Ensemble Musical De Ia Ville De Tunis.

Jan Garbarek (born March 4, 1947 in Mysen, Norway) a Norwegian tenor and soprano saxophonist, active in the jazz, classical, and world music genres. Garbarek was the only child of former Polish prisoner of war, and a Norwegian farmer's daughter. Garbarek grew up in Oslo. At 21, he married Vigdis. Their daughter Anja Garbarek is also a musician. Garbarek's sound is one of the hallmarks of the ECM record label, which has released virtually all of his recordings.