"Trios" is one of the outstanding jazz albums of the season and marks the first time that a new Carla Bley album has appeared on ECM itself. Carla, Andy Sheppard and Steve Swallow revisit classic Bley compositions in an exceptional album recorded in Lugano in April of 2012 by Manfred Eicher. Included here are spirited new versions of “Utviklingssang” and “Vashkar”, and the suites Les Trois Lagons, Wildlife and The Girl Who Cried Champagne. Carla’s robust tunes are vividly conveyed, all members solo compellingly, and the trio has never sounded better.

Praising a previous incarnation of Steve Swallow's quintet, The Times described the band "as near a perfect display of small-group jazz - robust yet exquisitely poised". The description holds true for the latest edition of the bassist's quintet and its album Into the Woodwork. Swallow leads the group - including his longtime partner in music and life, Carla Bley, on organ - in multi-hued performances of a dozen original compositions from his pen. Recorded in the south of France, the album accommodates atmospheric grace and loping grooves, wry humour and understated virtuosity.