The sound of ECM, the look of Rubber Soul

[humprof]

Two obits that appeared in the print edition of the New York Times on the same day this week:

• Robert Freeman, who took the cover shots for the first five Beatles albums (including the iconic With the Beatles and Rubber Soul), as well as famous photos of jazz musicians and other art-world celebrities; and
• Jan Erik Kongshaug, familiar to anyone who spent hours reading the credits on ECM album jackets as the guy behind the "ECM sound." (Ironically, ECM records has been celebrating its 50th anniversary this year.)

 

[jefe1]

Thanks for posting this. Continuing reminders of our mortality that those of us interested in music of this period will encounter.
I have an ECM sampler double album I picked up kind of like the Warners loss leaders series you could buy for $2 or so that I will check for his name.

 

[humprof]

Thanks for posting this. Continuing reminders of our mortality that those of us interested in music of this period will encounter.
I have an ECM sampler double album I picked up kind of like the Warners loss leaders series you could buy for $2 or so that I will check for his name.

I've got that same double-album! (Was there ever a "Volume Two"?) Probably acquired it not too long after buying a bunch of those other Warners "loss leaders." (I think Warners was distributing ECM in the US in those days.) It worked exactly as intended: got me hooked on the label and led to the purchase of dozens of ECM records over the years...

 

[atrocity]

I've got that same double-album! (Was there ever a "Volume Two"?) Probably acquired it not too long after buying a bunch of those other Warners "loss leaders." (I think Warners was distributing ECM in the US in those days.) It worked exactly as intended: got me hooked on the label and led to the purchase of dozens of ECM records over the years...

There's a religious debate out there whether that one is officially a Loss Leader or not.