Gnu High

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.  Some are offered in exclusive facsimile editions, others framed in high-grade gatefolds that include new liner notes offering historical context and fresh perspectives, while again others have been long out of print or even never before released on vinyl. Many of the re-issues are cut from the original analog master tapes and all Luminessence releases incorporate the striking cover art which has contributed to ECM’s renown.

Recorded in New York in 1975, Gnu High brought Canadian trumpeter Wheeler to a new level of international acclaim, for both his impassioned playing and his profoundly lyrical writing. Here Kenny is fronting an extraordinary quartet, with all masterful improvisers who had shaped their intuitive collective understanding as members of Miles Davis’s groups. “What you hear,” says Jack DeJohnette, “is the spontaneity of the moment.” Dave Holland notes that Gnu High “had this wonderful combination of the form and the shape and the harmony of Kenny’s tunes but then this really free way of interpreting them.” The album’s gatefold sleeve includes new liner notes by Kenny’s friend, colleague and biographer Nick Smart. 

Tracklist:

1. Heyoke
2. Smatter
3. Gnu Suite