Joy in Spite of Everything is an album of new compositions by the Italian pianist Stefano Bollani, written for a transatlantic quintet. Bollani's Danish trio partners meet two Americans closely tied to ECM, the saxophonist Mark Turner and the guitarist Bill Frisell. As the title says, the music keeps a light spirit despite the shadows of life. Much of it is written for smaller combinations within the band.

Bollani had already recorded for the label solo, with his trio and in duos with Enrico Rava, Chick Corea and Hamilton de Holanda. Here the bassist Jesper Bodilsen and drummer Morten Lund, his trio of Stone in the Water, form the core. Bollani has said that the three of them, of the same age, grew up listening to the same records. The nine pieces were recorded in June 2013 at Avatar Studios in New York, and mixed in Lugano in March 2014. Manfred Eicher produced. Bollani had worked with Turner before, in groups led by Paul Motian and Rava. He had never met Frisell until the session. He wrote the music with each player's sound in mind.

The line-up changes from track to track, from duo to full quintet. Easy Healing opens with a calypso, Frisell's guitar finding its space while Turner's tenor glints inside the summery theme. Teddy is a duet for piano and guitar, written with Teddy Wilson in mind. The closing title track is for the trio alone, taken at breakneck tempo. Bollani's right hand races through it, now close to bop, now to samba or cabaret.

Critics in several countries counted it among the jazz albums of the year. In The Guardian John Fordham wrote that with Bollani "the word play applies in its widest senses", singling out "the quicksilver title track". Thomas Steinfeld in the Süddeutsche Zeitung heard the five musicians as a chamber orchestra. In his view Frisell's bell-clear tone stands against Turner's dusty sound, while Bollani favours compositional surprises over solo display. Karl Ackermann in All About Jazz noted how Turner or Frisell enter smaller settings unexpectedly, adding layers of complexity to lyrical foundations.

This is the CD edition, ECM 2360, first released on 22 August 2014.