Benjamin Lackner, Mathias Eick, Jérôme Regard, Manu Katché

CD version. Last Decade is the ECM debut of the German-American pianist Benjamin Lackner, and the first album on which he writes for a horn. His earlier albums were piano trio records for other labels, often with electronics. Here he turns to an acoustic quartet with trumpeter Mathias Eick, drummer Manu Katché and his long-standing bassist Jérôme Regard. The result is a melodic, unhurried set of nine originals in which the trumpet carries most of the themes.

Lackner was born in Berlin, grew up in California and studied privately with Brad Mehldau in the late 1990s. Regard has been part of his trio for many years, while Eick and Katché bring long recording histories with ECM, mostly as leaders. Eight pieces are by Lackner and one, Émile, by Regard, who named it after his son and improvised it in the studio. The quartet recorded in September 2021 at Studios La Buissonne in Pernes-les-Fontaines, with Gérard de Haro as engineer and Manfred Eicher as producer.

The opening Where Do We Go From Here begins with a slow trumpet statement over a memorable melody, which Lackner then takes apart before the two trade lines at mid-tempo. On the title track a chordal theme rides an undulating rhythm, and Eick's solo starts softly before climbing into the upper register. Hung Up On That Ghost rests on prominent bass pedals, with Katché moving from brushes into shuffle figures. Camino Cielo takes its name from a Californian mountain range where Lackner's ancestors settled after leaving Germany in the 1930s. The closing My People, first written in 11/4, was loosened in the studio into rubato.

Reviewers singled out the balance between Lackner's writing and the two ECM veterans. In Jazz Journal in 2022 Michael Tucker wrote that "Manu Katché exhibits a shared understanding of time, space and dynamics with Lackner," and called the album a "classic" ECM release. For Mike Gates of UK Vibe the nine tunes offer "a captivating selection of sensitive lyricism, subtle grooves, and free-flowing solos." Christian Carey in Sequenza21 heard Lackner's originals moving back toward the modern jazz tradition after his earlier electronic work.

CD edition, ECM 2736, released in October 2022.