Swept Awayhas everything you look for in a great jazz album: outstanding compositions, masterly improvising, a range of moods and a complete consanguinity of mind between the musicians. In terms of the quartet's harmonic thinking and relationship with the pulse – listen to the rhythmic interplay between Joey Baron and Marc Johnson on ‘When The Sun Comes Up’-you know there's a lifetime of shared music-making underpinning this album. Eliane Elias is on especially sparkling form throughout, investing everything she plays with a mesmerising lyricism as well contributing a number of varicoloured compositions of striking evocative power. The pianist's ‘It's Time’, a tribute to the late Michael Brecker (with whom she played in Steps Ahead), will leave no heart unwarmed, while the statuesque ‘Foujita’ is the pick of the bassist's contributions. Johnson first recorded for ECM in 1985 – Swept Away is as good as anything he's recorded for the label. Made at Avatar Studios in New York, the recorded sound is unfailingly beautiful.