Audiopile Review: Norwegian saxophonist and multi-instrumentalist Jan Garbarek epitomizes the ECM label’s established sunrise-over-the-fjords aesthetic. The piercing clarity of his tone and his ability to evoke awe-inspiring natural beauty are what people think of when they think of ECM. But Garbarek was also central to the label’s more avant-garde early years. Check 1973’s ‘Witchi-Tai-To’ for an invigorating spiritual jazz blowout. Garabrek’s 1971 ECM debut ‘Afric Pepperbird’ is surely his most out-there move, though. Its abstract ethno-fusion recalls the ECM albums by Don Cherry-led trio Codona. ‘Afric Pepperbird’ is somehow more alien and even more beautiful than that implies. Garabarek’s 1970s work is all great, but this one is just wild. And what a band! Guitarist Terje Rypdal is particularly stunning here. All-round, this reissue is a must-buy for ECM fans and a must-hear for ECM skeptics. It could well change your opinion, and might just blow your mind.

Luminessence, ECM’s new audiophile vinyl reissue series, is a kaleidoscope, shedding light on the jewels of the label’s deep catalogue in elegant, high-quality editions. The hallmarks of the series: original and evocative music, imaginatively played and sensitively produced. The recordings underline the scope and variety of ECM’s world of sound and the LPs are presented in different formats.

The series features albums that have changed perceptions of creative music-making, albums now heralded as classics.

Recorded in Oslo in September 1970, Afric Pepperbird was released on New Year’s Day in 1971. Half a century later, it still conveys the freshness and excitement of discoveries being made. The album signaled the arrival of four Norwegian improvisers – Jan Garbarek, Terje Rypdal, Arild Andersen and Jon Christensen – at the fledgling ECM label. It was the start of a lifelong association with each of the musicians, whose influence was soon to reach far beyond the borders of their homeland. In extended passages on Afric Pepperbird, with Christensen and Andersen stretching out, it’s quite often Rypdal effectively holding the center with taut chords. Everybody is roaring here, with Garbarek deep into his free jazz vocabulary. “Garbarek should be heard,” wrote reviewer Joe Klee in DownBeat. “I would venture that not since Django Reinhardt has there been a European jazz musician so original and forward-looking as this young Norwegian.”