Steve Kuhn - Life’s Backward Glances-Solo and Quartet (2008)

Released in 2008 by the prestigious European imprint ECM Records, Life’s Backward Glances is a monumental, deeply poetic, and beautifully curated 3-CD box set retrospective that honors the pioneering seventies output of master jazz pianist and composer Steve Kuhn. Compiling three long-unavailable, landmark albums—the solo acoustic tour de force Ecstasy (1974), alongside his brilliant quartet statements Motility (1977) and Playground (1979)—the collection charts Kuhn's evolution into one of the most distinctive harmonic voices in modern creative music. Backed across the different dates by an elite circle of improvisers including multi-reed virtuoso Steve Slagle, bassists Harvie Swartz, and drum giants Michael Smith and Bob Moses, the sessions strike a flawless balance between post-bop intensity and pristine European impressionism. A crowning jewel is the inclusion of pioneering jazz vocalist Sheila Jordan on Playground, whose striking, instrumental-like delivery completely illuminates Kuhn's compositions. Moving seamlessly from the vast, crystalline solo architecture of The Saga Of Harrison Crabfeathers to the driving, multi-layered quartet movements of The Rain Forest and Deep Tango, this definitive reissue captures Kuhn operating at the absolute pinnacle of his lyrical, adventurous powers.