It was around 1974 that the ex-Return to Forever guitarist Bill Connors made the change from electric to acoustic, and electric jazz to a more classical-orientated flamenco-inflected mode of expression. He released his debut solo acoustic, Theme to the Guardian, on ECM followed by the classy quartet follow-up Of Mist and Melting, part of the label's Touchstone reissue series of slim retro digi-packs. And what a quartet it is. A cross-section of Keith Jarrett's classic 197080s bands: the sax luminary from his European Quartet plus his future ‘Standards’ trio. DeJohnette and Peacock's mouth-watering tension-filled, brooding percussive hum underlies Garbarek's brand new bucolic-tinged incantatory sax. Connors' tunes are spaciously memorable and his solos have an atmospherically dark, yet tender, poise which contrasts with the occasionally saccharine pastoral dimension of some other ECM acoustic six-stringers. It's enhanced significantly by a line-up at the peak of their powers.