John Abercrombie - 39 Steps (2013)

John Abercrombie's revised quartet - his last album, 'Within a Song', featured Joe Lovano in the line-up - provides Marc Copland with his first appearance on ECM. Yet the renowned guitarist and pianist are old allies, with an association stretching back forty years. Jazz ballads and lyricism predominate on this disc with six tunes from Abercrombie's pen, two Copland tunes, one collective improvisation, and a creative deconstruction of the old standard "Melancholy Baby".