Spark of Life

The fourth ECM album for the Wasilewski Trio adds a special guest, the lyrical Swedish saxophonist Joakim Milder, whom the Poles came to know through performances with Tomasz Stanko's Litania project. Amongst other affinities, the players share a love of Krzyzstof Komeda's music, and Komeda's "Sleep Safe and Warm" theme, written for Polanski's Rosemary's Baby makes a reappearance here. As ever, the Wasilewski group balances original material - intensely melodic new tunes by Marcin (including two variations of the beautiful title track) - with a daring range of covers, embracing Herbie Hancock, the Police's "Message In A Bottle" and Slawomir Kurkiewicz's arrangement of a composition by Grazyna Bacewicz, and reinforces its status as one of the most resourceful groups around. This is the trio's second ECM appearance this year, following on from sterling work as Jacob Young's rhythm section on Forever Young. Spark of Life was recorded in Lugano in March 2014, and produced by Manfred Eicher.