The fourth ECM album by the Marcin Wasilewski Trio adds a special guest, the lyrical Swedish saxophonist Joakim Milder, whom the Poles came to know through performances with Tomasz Stanko's Litania project. 　　 　　Amongst other affinities, the players share a love of Krzyzstof Komeda's music, and Komeda's "Sleep Safe and Warm" theme written for Polanski's Rosemary's Baby make a re-appearance here. As ever, the Wasilewski group balances original material - intensely melodic new tunes by Marcin (including two variations of the beautiful title track) - with a daring range of covers, embracing Herbie Hancock's "Actual Proof", the Police's "Message In A Bottle" and Slawomir Kurkiewicz's arrangement of a classical composition by Grazyna Bacewicz (the Largo from her Piano Sonata No 2). The album reinforces its status as one of the most resourceful groups around. 　　 　　This is the trio's second appearance on ECM this year, following on from sterling work as guitarist Jacob Young's rhythm section on Forever Young. Spark of Life was recorded in Lugano in March 2014, and produced by Manfred Eicher. 　　 　　Over the past decade pianist Marcin Wasilewski, bassist Slawomir Kurkiewicz and drummer Michal Miskiewicz have built a reputation as one of the outstanding young piano trios on the scene. In the early years of the 21st century they balanced trio work with membership of the Tomasz Stanko Quartet - which catapulted them to international attention - but they've also produced some very fine trio albums for ECM: 'Trio', 'January' and 'Faithful'. 　　 　　Personnel: Joakim Milder (saxophone), Marcin Wasilewski (piano), Slawomir Kurkiewicz (double bass), Michal Miskiewicz (drums)