These two releases, both examples of exceptional music-making, represent the second batch of ECM’s new Luminescence vinyl reissue programme, casting light on gems from the label’s illustrious back catalogue.

Old and New Dreams is from an ensemble (pictured) formed in 1976, and comprised of the foremost exponents of acoustic Ornette Coleman compositions, with Cherry, Haden and Blackwell three-quarters of the band that played on Coleman’s This Is Our Music from 1960; Redman was a childhood friend of Coleman’s from his Fort Worth days.

By the time they made their eponymous debut on the Black Saint label in 1977, they were including non-Coleman compositions from within the band, something they continued on their [also eponymous] debut on ECM in 1979 with titles such Redman’s ‘Orbit of La-Ba,’ Haden’s ‘Song for the Whales,’ Cherry’s ‘Guinea’ and Blackwell’s ‘Togo,’ alongside Coleman’s ‘Lonely Woman’ and ‘Open or Close.’ The group’s significance lay in how they opened up a wider general audience for Coleman’s music; it seems doubtful that the band members realised how significant their collaborations were, as they allowed other personal projects to intervene, leading to an intermittent existence, but with this release, and their subsequent Playing, also on ECM, that captures them at their best. This is music that’s stood the test of time because it is of rare and exceptional quality.

The ‘New’ that precedes ‘Quartet’ on Gary Burton’s 1973 release was there to put clear blue water between his groundbreaking quartet (1967-9) with guitarist Larry Coryell (and later Jerry Hahn), drummer Roy Haynes, and bassist Steve Swallow, by modifying and streamlining the sound that defined him in his jazz-rock period. His new ensemble came with a fresh repertoire and fresh faces, reflecting Burton’s move from New York to Boston, using Boston-based musicians.

The result was enduring, even if the group did not last long together, and it set in train a way of working that he would broadly follow with his subsequent ensembles by drawing mainly on the compositional talents of Carla Bley, Mike Gibbs, Chick Corea, Keith Jarrett and, on this album (the exception to the rule), two pieces by pianist Gordon Beck.

Burton possessed complete mastery of his instrument and had a profound understanding of harmony – and that’s saying nothing of his remarkable technique, which brought the four-mallet method into the mainstream. In live performance he could be stunning and was a source of huge fascination to a young Pat Metheny, whom Burton mentored. His playing here contains no high-tempo fireworks, but refined, almost perfect lyrical expressionism, use of dynamics, and a technique that effortlessly embraces the four-octave span of his instrument. He had a special affinity for Carla Bley’s penchant for unusual harmonic movement, and on her single representation on the album, ‘Olhos De Gato,’ Mike Goodrick clearly shares his outlook. Chick Corea’s joyous ‘Open Your Eyes, You Can Fly’ shows Burton has not divested himself of jazz-rock influences, but elided them into a more free-flowing interpretation than his 1960s work, as the romping ‘Mallet Man’ and the harmonically arresting ‘Tying Up Loose Ends,’ both by Gordon Beck, reveal. Jarrett’s profound ’Coral’ sees Burton responding with an intense lyricism that makes this a slow burn highlight; while Mike Gibbs’ ‘Four or Less’ reveals Laboriel well on the way to becoming the in-demand bassist he would become while Gibbs’ ‘Nonsequence’ is a highlight in a much-overlooked album that remains a classy offering 50 years after it was recorded.