Jazz-fusion has spawned plenty of rather distressing albums but also, fortunately, many masterpieces. Like this album, recorded on the 2nd and 3rd of February 1972 in New York. Return to Forever sees the pianist Chick Corea, who had just left Miles Davis's outfit, alongside electric bass god Stanley Clarke, the underrated flautist and saxophonist Joe Farrell and the Brazilian duo of singer Flora Purim and her husband, the drummer and percussionist Airto Moreira. This light "Brazilian touch" is one of the interesting elements in this fusion, which offers an alternative to the music offered by Miles or John McLaughlin's Mahavishnu Orchestra, which had much more of a rock sound. At his electric keyboard, Corea remains attached to the melodic framework of his compositions and the mystical atmosphere, which was so popular in its day, is never over-done. Most importantly, the incontinent splurging of notes that has clogged up so many electronic projects is absent here. On Crystal Silence, Farrell's sax solo is to die for, and Corea's playing, light as a feather, will take some beating. Derided as a circus animal by his detractors, Stanley Clarke is also strikingly subtle and his performance on Sometime Ago - La Fiesta is among his most moving. In the end, Return to Forever is perhaps considered one of the greatest jazz-fusion albums because it sweeps away the clichés. Thereafter, despite a regularly changing line-up, the band proved a colossal success (six studio albums followed in five years), undoubtedly because of its distinctly 'rockier' formula, which was a major departure from the style of this first chapter. © Marc Zisman / Qobuz

Each member of Trio Tapestry—saxophonist Joe Lovano, pianist Marilyn Crispell, and drummer Carmen Castaldi—has an utterly distinctive voice. Lovano, who has integrated the influence of John Coltrane into his own highly developed sound, is one of the best tenor players in jazz. Crispell, known for her impressive discography and her work with Anthony Braxton among many others, brings a lucid touch and a great sense of space to her instrument. Castaldi is a very unusual drummer—low-volume, spare, free; at times he can recall the late Paul Motian, with whom Lovano also collaborated. (Castaldi and Lovano, both Cleveland natives, have collaborated off and on for decades.) 2023's Our Daily Bread is the group's third album and it's excellent. On "All Twelve," Crispell lays out a twelve-tone row before Castaldi's artful taps and hits come into play. Lovano enters with a wobbling run and the group goes on to coalesce in delicately balanced ways. "Grace Notes" opens with unaccompanied gong tones that are followed by Eastern-flavored piano and rippling trap-kit cymbals. Lovano plays the tárogató, an Eastern European woodwind with a pinched sound evocative of oboe and soprano saxophone. Later, he switches to tenor sax, changing up the group vibe.       "One for Charlie" finds a solo Lovano paying tribute to the great bassist Charlie Haden. The blues-tinged piece, which features exquisite phrasing, is both low-key and moving. "Rhythm Spirit" is a duo for sax and drums and here, Lovano's thoughtful performance is backed by gongs and pianissimo drumming—Castaldi's incredibly quiet dynamics on the track are downright radical. Crispell rejoins her bandmates for the mysterious "Crystal Ball," where Lovano's sax brushes against her clearly articulated melodic fragments, and at times, piano and sax unspool lines in tandem. Throughout, drums provide an abstract percussive backdrop. There's muted dramatic tension in this music. It doesn't reach out and grab you; instead, it pulls you in with its subtleties. Dans la riche et prolixe production discographique du saxophoniste ténor Joe Lovano, ses enregistrements pour le label ECM constituent sans doute la part la plus intime et expérimentale. Après avoir débutée sa collaboration avec le label en 1981dans l’album Psalm de Paul Motian, puis l’avoir poursuivi en participant, toujours en sideman, à d’autres disques du batteur (I Have the Roome Above Her) mais aussi de John Abercrombie (Within a Song) ou Steve Kuhn (Mostly Coltrane), c’est en 2019, à la tête précisément de ce Trio Tapestry que Lovano a finalement franchi le cap d’y signer son premier disque en leader, inaugurant ce que l’on peut d’ores et déjà considérer comme une  nouvelle étape de sa carrière. Après Garden of Expression paru en 2021, Our Daily Bread est déjà le troisième album de ce trio aussi funambulesque que singulier, constitué autour du saxophone ténor lyrique de Lovano des harmonies aussi modernes que raffinées de la pianiste Marylin Crispell et de féérie gestuelle de la batteuse Carmen Castaldi. A partir de compositions originales mettant savamment en scène la dynamique du silence et laissant énormément d’espace à l’improvisation, les trois musicien.nes inventent dans une forme de télépathie relationnelle une musique atmosphérique tout en équilibre instable, passant d’humeurs post-coltraniennes intenses à des séquences d’improvisations collectives fondées sur des jeux de textures sonores impressionnistes d’une grande poésie. Stéphane Ollivier

At first glance, one might confuse the virtuoso cellist Angelina Kobekina’s latest album, Venice, as a classical “greatest hits” collection—a packaging of snippets taken from previous recordings released when a record company’s star artist hasn’t recorded enough fresh material. This recording is anything but that. Venice is a strikingly original and personal concept with Kobekina’s love for the titular city as the underlying theme. Kobekina’s original compositions are solo cello pieces, while those of Bach, Britten, Monteverdi, and Vivaldi feature her unique accompaniments. Some depart significantly from the originals, such as a 20th-Century jazz arrangement of a Vivaldi concerto. While some traditionally-minded classical listeners may object to the recomposing of works by the old masters, what must be kept in mind is that Venice is not the typical classical release in recital format, but a creation in which the artist takes the listener along on her own highly intimate journey. Some listeners may find themselves getting lost but the wordy “roadmap” provided in the booklet or even the notes by Kobekina herself may likely be of little assistance.  Rather than trying to figure out exactly what the artist is expressing, the best approach is to listen to Venice from beginning to end, with no interruptions or preconceived notions. Listeners may love it or hate it, but one thing on which all may agree: Anastasia Kobekina is an extraordinary cellist, artist, and musician. ©Anthony Fountain/Qobuz

‘Virtual reality applied to sound’ is the theme for the insatiable Jean-Michel Jarre’s 22nd album with Sony. Conceived in 3D spatialised audio, the record conjures up some extraordinary sensations, with sounds coming from every direction. Credits are shared with Pierre Henry, the French pioneer of musique concrète, known for his avant-garde hit ‘Psyché Rock’. Both Henry and Jarre have history with Pierre Schaeffer, the founder of GRM (Groupe de recherches musicales de l’ORTF), where the first French electronic music experiments took place. Pierre Henry was never part of the GRM, carrying out his experiments in parallel, but he was still very close to Schaeffer in the 50s.Jarre worked an internship at GRM during the late 60s, where he idolised Shaeffer. A collaboration between Jarre and Henry had been suggested in 2015 for the album Electronica, but Pierre Henry’s faltering health and subsequent death in 2017 meant that the project never came to fruition. Nevertheless, Henry left a series of sounds to Jean-Michel Jarre, which he used to create Oxymore - a tribute to the late composer, whose signature sound becomes apparent right from the first track. This is a pretty catchy record, Jarre clearly deciding to make the most of the kick pedal on ‘ZEITGEIST’ and ‘BRUTALISM’. The influence of musique concrète is plainly evident, with lots of Pierre Henry-esque noises swirling through the tracks. The fusion of these two electronic pioneers is enjoyable (though inevitably unbalanced), with excellent highlights such as the meta-disco ‘SONIC LAND’ and the trippy ‘SYNTHY SISTERS’: tracks where Jarre sounds like he’s having more fun than ever before. © Smaël Bouaici/Qobuz

Amidst the great and eclectic new wave family at the dawn of the 1980s, Echo & the Bunnymen imposed their own voice, which was different from those of the Cure, U2, Simple Minds or the Psychedelic Furs. It was a uniqueness which was in part due to the tortured voice of charismatic crooner Ian McCulloch. After a few fairly sombre first albums, the Bunnymen gradually gave in to a desire for big melodies and richer instrumentation. Ocean Rain is the height of this new turn. Throughout this fourth album, which came out in spring 1984, the ethereal rock of the Liverpool quartet owes as much to the grandiloquence of the great Scott Walker as to the poetry of the Doors or the Byrds, or the torment of Joy Division… Thanks to its mega-slick production and smooth arrangements, the talents of composer McCulloch and the impressionism of Will Sergeant's guitars are magnified all the more. The lyricism of Ocean Rain is, above all, never hackneyed. Draped in tasteful violins, the record reaches its zenith with The Killing Moon, a long and crepuscular ballad, one for putting on repeat… © Marc Zisman/Qobuz

Emerson, Lake & Palmer's 1970 eponymous LP was only a rehearsal. It hit hard because of the novelty of the act (allegedly the first supergroup in rock history), but felt more like a collection of individual efforts and ideas than a collective work. All doubts were dissipated by the release of Tarkus in 1971. Side one of the original LP is occupied by the 21-minute title epic track, beating both Genesis' "Supper's Ready" and Yes' "Close to the Edge" by a year. Unlike the latter group's cut-and-paste technique to obtain long suites, "Tarkus" is a thoroughly written, focused piece of music. It remains among the Top Ten classic tracks in progressive rock history. Because of the strength of side one, the material on the album's second half has been quickly forgotten -- with one good reason: it doesn't match the strength of its counterpart -- but "Bitches Crystal" and "A Time and a Place" make two good prog rock tracks, the latter being particularly rocking. "Jeremy Bender" is the first in a series of honky tonk-spiced, Far-West-related songs. This one and the rock & roll closer "Are You Ready Eddy?" are the only two tracks worth throwing away. Otherwise Tarkus makes a very solid album, especially to the ears of prog rock fans -- no Greg Lake acoustic ballads, no lengthy jazz interludes. More accomplished than the trio's first album, but not quite as polished as Brain Salad Surgery, Tarkus is nevertheless a must-have.© François Couture /TiVo

With 1984's Discovery, Mike Oldfield seems to be back on track, utilizing the vocal power of Maggie Reilly and the drum playing of Simon Phillips to create some rather appealing selections. "The Lake" is a simply gorgeous instrumental inspired by Switzerland's Lake Geneva, the location in which the album was recorded, while "To France" is a powerful pop/rock tune based on the life of Mary, Queen of Scots. Both Reilly and Barry Palmer share the vocal duties throughout the tracks, signifying Oldfield's subtle emergence into a more pop-infused atmosphere. "Tricks of the Light" is a wonderful instrumental that relies on the keyboard to give it energy, while even so-so efforts like the title track and "Poison Arrows" come off as upbeat and inspired. Discovery peaked at number 15 in the U.K., and even though it didn't garner much attention elsewhere, it serves as one of Mike Oldfield's most entertaining releases from the decade. © Mike DeGagne /TiVo

With 1984's Discovery, Mike Oldfield seems to be back on track, utilizing the vocal power of Maggie Reilly and the drum playing of Simon Phillips to create some rather appealing selections. "The Lake" is a simply gorgeous instrumental inspired by Switzerland's Lake Geneva, the location in which the album was recorded, while "To France" is a powerful pop/rock tune based on the life of Mary, Queen of Scots. Both Reilly and Barry Palmer share the vocal duties throughout the tracks, signifying Oldfield's subtle emergence into a more pop-infused atmosphere. "Tricks of the Light" is a wonderful instrumental that relies on the keyboard to give it energy, while even so-so efforts like the title track and "Poison Arrows" come off as upbeat and inspired. Discovery peaked at number 15 in the U.K., and even though it didn't garner much attention elsewhere, it serves as one of Mike Oldfield's most entertaining releases from the decade. © Mike DeGagne /TiVo

For Crystal Silence, the first of several partnerships between Chick Corea and vibraphonist Gary Burton in the 1970s, the two musicians selected an interesting array of material. The compositions on this record are all modern ones, either by Steve Swallow, Mike Gibbs, or Corea himself. It is a mostly downtempo affair, which allows each player to stretch out and play highly melodic solos over the often difficult changes. In keeping with most ECM releases, there is a distinct presence of European elements to the improvisations. There are few overt blues or bebop phrases, Corea and Burton opting instead for modern melodies to fuel their improvisations. Burton has managed to internalize the Spanish and modal implications of Corea's tunes with little difficulty, and solos with joyful ease through such tracks as "Señor Mouse." Corea himself is absolutely burning. His solo contribution on the same track is both fiery and introspective, combining in one statement the poles for which he is best-known. The title track is also the centerpiece of the album, a nine-minute exploration of the Corea ballad that first appeared on his Return to Forever record in 1972. In keeping with the tradition of the great masters of the ballad form, time seems to disappear as Burton and Corea lovingly caress the song's simple melody and dance effortlessly around the chords, building intensity only to let it subside once more. Crystal Silence is a sublime indication of what two master improvisers can do given quality raw material, with the first side of this record being particularly flawless. Improvised music is rarely this coherent and melodic. Essential for fans of Corea, Burton, or jazz in general.© Daniel Gioffre /TiVo

Their second eponymous album, Fleetwood Mac, of 1975, allowed the group to redefine an evolving identity. Everything had changed since the debut work, which had come out seven years earlier. The British group had lost three guitarists. Addled by LSD, disgusted by money, Peter Green, a pure blues spirit, deserted. Jeremy Spencer joined the Children of God, and the very young Danny Kirwan was sacked for alcohol troubles and poor mental health. All that remained were Fleetwood and McVie. In California Mick Fleetwood came across the couple Lindsey Buckingham and Stevie Nicks, while John McVie recruited his future wife to the keyboards. English blues born from the ashes of the Bluesbreakers, Fleetwood Mac, hitched to the Nicks-Buckingham team, passed over into rock bearing the Californian "FM" stamp. Mainstream radios never received such good vibrations. Before Rumours which would inundate a whole generation, the group was already nurturing that quality which would propel them up the charts. Nicks's raw sensuality on Rhiannon, Buckingham's nascent leadership on I’m So Afraid, the dulcet pop of Over My Head and Say You Love Me. But also singular beauties such as Landslide, more known for its cover by the Smashing Pumpkins or Crystal. Between a hippie dusk raging against the rising tide of punk and remnants of the blues (World Turning), Fleetwood Mac, whose earlier versions and live recordings are offered up for discovery in this Deluxe edition, set out on a lightning ascent under a narcotic spell as winning as it was tragic. © CS/Qobuz

III's haunting cover photo of a Muslim woman protecting her son might seem initially like it was chosen just to get attention, but it's actually the perfect representation of the album's complex mix of bleakness and comfort. This is Crystal Castles' most serious set of songs yet, with a darker tone and streamlined sound that dovetails with its motifs of outsiders, injustices, and revolution. Ethan Kath and Alice Glass' second album showed the duo was expanding their 8-bit vocabulary, and that comes to fruition here, particularly on the album-opener "Plague" and "Wrath of God," where Glass' distant rage and Kath's shadowy, claustrophobic synths invert their previously fiery electro-punk into something colder and more lingering. II standouts "Baptism" and "Not in Love" provide the template for some of III's best moments: "Telepath" and "Affection," which temper their tear-stained whispers with some of the duo's most straightforward and danceable beats, could soundtrack the world's saddest rave; "Transgender" adds a dash of fury to the mix, and "Sad Eyes," the album's most immediate song, amps up the drama and heartbreak to levels guaranteed to cut a swath on the dancefloor. Melody plays a bigger role on III than it did in Crystal Castles' earlier music, from Glass' more refined and nuanced singing to the beautifully ominous feel of "Mercenary" and especially "Child I Will Hurt You," which closes the album with a sparkling sadness like a broken snow globe. And while the duo downplays the noisy chiptune freakouts that defined their first album and punctuated their second, they use their more extreme sounds with more purpose. "Insulin"'s distortion workout provides a palate cleanser from the album's more emotional tracks, while "Kerosene"'s helium-laced backing vocals add an eerie innocence that Glass does her best to protect from the harshness surrounding them. Artistic progress is as much about subtraction as it is about addition, and on III, Crystal Castles have made room to be sad, angry, pretty, and danceable at the same time. That's an unusual mix of emotions, and while it might be condescending to say that they've grown up, they've certainly outgrown many of the preconceptions about what their music can be.© Heather Phares /TiVo