Tenderness is an album by Kip Hanrahan that originally was released in 1990. It includes guest work by Sting, Alfredo "Chocolate" Armenteros, and Giovanni Hidalgo. The Boston Globe said the album "blurs the lines between jazz, rock and Latin music with a raw, sensual complexity through this mysterious 16-song cycle". The Philadelphia Inquirer listed Tenderness as one of its "10 best pop albums of 1990".

Pianist Cecil Taylor formed a very unique sounding band for his Blue Note Records debut in 1966. Taylor began experimenting throughout the 50s and 60s, his music became more complex and developed in a way that was different then other jazz forms of the time. The album opened up new possibilities in the realm of jazz, allowing musicians to develop unique forms of musical exchange. The unusual septet voicing includes two bass players.

Drummer Andrew Cyrille and his group including David Murray on tenor sax and bass clarinet, Oliver Lake on alto sax, keyboardist Adegoke Steve Colson and bassist Fred Hopkins, recorded this set during a stay in Senegal. Comprised of original compositions by Cyrille, Murray and Colson, the quintet also performs John Coltrane's "Acknowledgement" and "Resolution" sections from "A Love Supreme".

The great avant-jazz drummer Andrew Cyrille whose associations have ranged from a long, vintage collaboration with Cecil Taylor to co-leading current all-star collective Trio 3 with Oliver Lake and Reggie Workman makes his ECM debut as bandleader on "The Declaration Of Musical Independence" and what a band it is! Guitarist Bill Frisell, keyboardist Richard Teitelbaum and double bassist Ben Street are perfectly in synch with Cyrille throughout this set that opens with a Coltrane cover (Coltrane Time) but is otherwise all-original, including three pieces composed by the entire quartet in the studio.

Guitarist Ben Monder first recorded for ECM as a member of the Paul Motian Band on “Garden of Eden” in 2004, and "Amorphae" was originally conceived as a series of duets for Ben and Paul. A first exploratory duo session was recorded in 2010. After Motian’s death the following year it was decided to expand and complete the project with another highly influential and innovative drummer, Andrew Cyrille, adding also Pete Rende on synthesizer on two pieces.