Small Town presents guitarist Bill Frisell and bassist Thomas Morgan in a program of duets, the poetic chemistry of their playing captured live at New York s hallowed Village Vanguard. Small Town sees Frisell and Morgan pay homage to jazz elder Lee Konitz with his Subconscious Lee, and there are several country/blues-accented Frisell originals, including the hauntingly melodic title track. The duo caps the set with an inimitable treatment of John Barry's famous James Bond theme "Goldfinger".

"I am a Man", Ron Miles' recording with Bill Frisell and Brian Blade, expands the trio to a quintet with the addition of pianist Jason Moran and bassist Thomas Morgan. The sublime interplay that distinguished the Circuit Rider trio recordings "Quiver" (2012) and "Circuit Rider" (2014), reaches new levels of inspired musical communication. Ron Miles' lyrical and complex compositions provide the perfect framework for five masters who blur the boundaries of conventional soloing and accompanying in a constant ebb and flow marked by brilliant harmonizing and strokes of individual genius.

2017 release from pianist Dan Tepfer - whom New York magazine dubbed "one of the moment's most adventurous and relevant musicians". "Eleven Cages" features Tepfer returning to the jazz piano trio format for the first time since the 2010 album "Five Pedals Deep". All Music Guide described the album as "inventive" and "intense", while Stereophile judged it simply "beautiful". For Eleven Cages, Tepfer sought to explore the concept of freedom within boundaries, as well as the malleability of time in music.

"Streams" is the second ECM album from Danish guitarist Jakob Bro as leader, featuring his pedigreed American trio members: bassist Thomas Morgan is known for his work with Paul Motian and John Abercrombie while drummer Joey Baron often backs Bill Frisell and John Zorn. Bro composed all the songs himself except for one track written by the three musicians.

Craig Taborn was recently hailed by DownBeat as “one of the visionaries of the current wave”. His unique perspective on creative music-making has established him as a pioneer of jazz. Produced by Manfred Eicher, Chants finds its own response to the vast tradition of piano trios. It channels the special skills of drummer Gerald Cleaver and bassist Thomas Morgan. The ensemble shares an appreciation for compositional shapes and multi-layered improvisational details, as the music is pulled between the poles of density and spaciousness, to dramatic and thrilling effect.

Masabumi Kikuchi makes his ECM debut with "Sunrise". The album bursting with riveting spontaneity and free-form improvisation finds the well-versed musician joined by a star-studded lineup which includes double bassist Thomas Morgan and legendary drummer Paul Motian. The serene ten track work, comprised of mostly ballads, is executed flawlessly as each harmonic movement is handled with precision and clarity. The trio, all masters in the jazz world, deliver an album that is breathtaking.

"Gefion", named for the Norse goddess associated with ploughing, prophecy and premonition, is the ECM leader debut of Danish guitarist Jakob Bro. The guitarist’s feeling for melody, sound-colour and atmosphere served him well in those contexts, as it does here in the realization of his own free floating ballads and drifting, spacious-yet-focused pieces. “Lucidity is in the air when guitarist Jakob Bro plays,” the late Danish journalist Ib Skovgaard wrote. “His music transcends genres. It’s beyond categories, a personal music following a track which is consistent with Bro’s constant search for melodic clarity in the songs”.

The Giovanni Guidi Trio plays jazz of uncommon originality and reflective depth. On their second ECM album, Italian pianist Guidi, US bassist Morgan, and Portuguese drummer Lobo continue the work begun on the 2011 recording "City of Broken Dreams", with pensive, abstract ballads which shimmer with inner tension. Each of the players has a strong sense for the dialectics of sound and silence. The repertoire is mostly from Guidi’s pen, but also includes the standard “I’m Through With Love”, Cuban songwriter Osvaldo Farrés’ “Quizás, quizás, quizás” (familiar to jazz listeners through, above all, Nat King Cole’s version), and “Baiiia” by João Lobo.

"City of Broken Dreams" is the ECM leader debut of the prodigiously gifted Italian pianist Giovanni Guidi. Guidi has previously appeared on two discs for the label with Enrico Rava – “Tribe” with the Rava Quintet and the live “On The Dance Floor” with the Parco della Musica Jazz Lab band. Now he introduces his new international trio with US bassist Thomas Morgan and Portuguese drummer João Lobo, and a shimmering inner-directed music of striking originality. Lyrical free-floating ballads predominate, and the tunes seem optimally set up to showcase the strengths of his confrères. Bassist Thomas Morgan has as much room to move in this unit as Scott LaFaro had in the Bill Evans trios, or Gary Peacock in Paul Bley’s groups – invited in other words to interact in the foreground of the music. Guidi is generous with his space in these pieces, all from his pen, every one of them turning some unexpected corners.