Ad

Nils Petter MolværKhmer

Genre:

Electronic, Jazz

Style:

Future Jazz, Contemporary Jazz

Year:

Tracklist

Khmer4:59
Tløn7:52
Access / Song Of Sand I5:50
On Stream5:01
Platonic Years6:33
Phum3:39
Song Of Sand II6:10
Exit2:42

Credits (14)

Notes

Originally titled "Labyrinter", this song cycle was the 1996 comissioned work for the Vossa Jazz Festival. Later renamed "Khmer" and first released internationally by ECM Records in 1997, selling approximately 250000 copies worldwide.

On March 31, 2023, an updated version was performed at the 50th Vossa Jazz Festival anniversary, performed by Nils Petter Molvær (trumpet), Eivind Aarset (guitar), Jan Bang (live sampling), DJ Strangefruit (turntables), Audun Erlien (bass), Rune Arnesen (drums), Per Lindvall (drums), Sven Persson (sound design) and Tord Knudsen (lights design).

Versions

Filter by
    19 versions
    Image, In Your Collection, Wantlist, or Inventory
    Version DetailsData Quality
    Cover of Khmer, 1997-10-00, CDKhmer
    CD, Album
    ECM Records – ECM 1560, ECM Records – 537 798-2Germany1997Germany1997
    Recently Edited
    Cover of Khmer, 1997, CDKhmer
    CD, Album
    ECM Records – ECM 1560, ECM Records – 537 798-2Germany1997Germany1997
    Recently Edited
    Cover of Khmer, 1997, CDKhmer
    CD, Album
    ECM Records – ECM 1560, ECM Records – 78118 21560 2US1997US1997
    New Submission
    Cover of Khmer, 1997-10-00, CDKhmer
    CD, Album, Promo
    ECM Records – ECM 1560, ECM Records – 537 798-2Germany1997Germany1997
    New Submission
    Cover of Khmer, 1998-08-11, CDKhmer
    CD, Album; CD, Compilation
    ECM Records – ECM 1560, BMG Classics – 78118 21560 2US1998US1998
    Recently Edited
    Cover of Khmer, 1998-01-07, CDKhmer
    CD, Album, Stereo
    ECM Records – POCJ-1401Japan1998Japan1998
    New Submission
    Cover of Khmer, 2014-04-23, CDKhmer
    CD, Album, Limited Edition, Reissue, SHM-CD
    ECM Records – UCCE-9247Japan2014Japan2014
    New Submission
    Cover of Khmer, 2019-06-07, VinylKhmer
    LP, Album, Reissue, Stereo, 180-gram
    ECM Records – ECM 1560, ECM Records – 774 2658Europe2019Europe2019
    Recently Edited
    Cover of Khmer, 2019-08-21, CDKhmer
    CD, Album, Reissue, HQCD 祝ECM 50周年 平成の名盤25
    ECM Records – UCCE-9360Japan2019Japan2019
    New Submission
    Cover of Khmer, , CDKhmer
    CD, Album, Reissue
    ECM Records – ECM 1560, ECM Records – 537 798-2GermanyGermany
    Cover of Khmer, , CDKhmer
    CD, Album, Unofficial Release
    Limited Edition (6) – PN-311RussiaRussia
    New Submission
    Cover of Khmer, , CDKhmer
    CD, Album, Reissue
    ECM Records – ECM 1560, ECM Records – 537 798-2GermanyGermany
    Recently Edited
    Cover of Khmer, , CDKhmer
    CD, Album, Reissue
    ECM Records – ECM 1560, ECM Records – 537 798-2GermanyGermany
    Cover of Khmer, , CDKhmer
    CD, Album, Reissue
    ECM Records – ECM 1560, ECM Records – 537 798-2GermanyGermany
    New Submission
    Cover of Khmer, , CDKhmer
    CD, Album, Reissue
    ECM Records – ECM 1560, ECM Records – 537 798-2GermanyGermany
    New Submission
    Cover of Khmer, , FileKhmer
    8×File, MP3, Album, Reissue, VBR
    ECM Records – noneGermanyGermany
    New Submission
    Cover of Khmer, , CDKhmer
    CD, Album, Reissue, Stereo
    ECM Records – ECM 1560, ECM Records – 537 798-2GermanyGermany
    Cover of Khmer, , CDKhmer
    CD, Album, Reissue
    ECM Records – ECM 1560, ECM Records – 537 798-2GermanyGermany
    New Submission
    Cover of Khmer, , FileKhmer
    8×File, WAV, Album, Stereo, 16-bit / 44.1 kHz
    ECM Records – noneWorldwideWorldwide
    New Submission

    Recommendations

    Reviews

    • mellow_yellow's avatar
      mellow_yellow
      This 16-bit 1997 release (Qobuz) sounds amazing. The clarity, dynamics, and mix are perfect. This sounds like a High Dynamic Range album, I don't think there's any compression at all. There's some strong bass lines but they're well defined and not bloated. Excellent!
      • JEnglishSmithII's avatar
        An amazing album, his best I feel. I have it on CD but getting vinyl is on my wish list.
        • aledif71's avatar
          aledif71
          Edited 3 years ago
          I agree with wesyhysy: fantastic pressing - I bought the CD when it first came out and I just had to have it on vinyl.
          Wonderful music and a flawless pressing. Side B has many quiet passages and they are absolutely dead silent.
          Highly recommended for me.
          • bigVick's avatar
            bigVick
            It seemed to me or not, I will not say exactly, but this music is little like modern jazz, like Andrzej Jagodzianski Trio. Rather, it 's avant-garde jazz from the future.
            • wesyhysy's avatar
              wesyhysy
              Fantastic pressing of this classic Nils Petter Molvær album. Clear sound as usually from ECM.
              • d.teil's avatar
                d.teil
                Edited 6 years ago
                As I vinyl junkie I have to admit: this recording is superb on this cd. Amazing stereo sound. The bass is deeper than deep. Clear at the same. A true ddd recording.
                • Expansive09's avatar
                  Expansive09
                  Edited 4 years ago
                  This was a pioneering venture for ECM and I being a fan of ECMs more electric and eclectric jazz was thrown a punch in the ear when I heard it over a decade ago.
                  You take one part Miles Davis late 70s era sound, one part down-tempo, one part fringe electronica and what you get is some darn amazing innovative music by one Norwegian who decided to take door number three within the context of what jazz is defined.
                  The turn tables, looped and wah/talkbox guitar, muted trumpet and heavy electric bass just grooves so hot you'd think global warming took its cue from this recording.
                  Some really exciting music that even today in 2017 sounds fresh and groundbreaking. Nils solos are poignant and precise without overbearing all the other instrumentation and thats what makes this a winner in my music library.
                  As a side note the deluxe version has a bonus cd of extra mixes. His follow-up Solid Ether is equally strong but Khmer is hard to topple as far as freshness!
                  • zritelle's avatar
                    zritelle
                    Review by Christian Genzel
                    Khmer is surely the most unusual album ever released by ECM -- unusual because the label, which is best known for elevated chamber jazz, presents the solo debut of trumpeter Nils Petter Molvaer as a production that plays with modern electronica methods while not eschewing the well-known ECM aesthetic. Molvaer's music is somewhere between scary and majestic, and changes between ominous ambient sounds and hard breakbeats, along which atonal screeching guitars combined with melancholic melodies, create a fascinating mélange. Above all this thrones Molvaer's trumpet: lyrical, hectic, calm and sad, trembling and screaming. Molvaer is one of the most progressive and intelligent voices in jazz today, and with Khmer he's recorded one of the best jazz albums of the '90s

                    Master Release

                    Edit Master Release
                    Recently Edited

                    For sale on Discogs

                    Sell a copy

                    Statistics

                    • Avg Rating:4.57 / 5
                    • Ratings:407
                    Ad

                    Videos (10)

                    Edit
                    Ad
                    Ad