LP version. Paramount Quartet is the debut of a new band led by Joe Lovano, with Julian Lage on guitar, Asante Santi Debriano on double bass and Will Calhoun on drums. Lovano's ECM history goes back to Paul Motian's Psalm in 1982, and this group opens a new chapter in it. Hints of Americana, blues and gospel sit on a post-bop base, and the playing moves freely between tight themes and open improvisation.

The four come from different generations and backgrounds. Calhoun is best known as the drummer of the rock band Living Colour, while Lage brings a guitar voice that brushes against folk and blues. "I feel like at this point I'm on the rise," Lovano said of the group, adding that its members "play with a real global awareness." A London concert a few days before the session drew a warm notice in the Financial Times. The album was recorded in February 2025 at Studios La Buissonne in Pernes-les-Fontaines, in the south of France, with Gérard de Haro engineering and Manfred Eicher producing. Lovano plays tenor and soprano saxophones and tárogató.

Five of the seven pieces are Lovano originals. The album opens with First Song by Charlie Haden, a tune Lovano had played years ago with Bill Frisell. Here it starts from a lyrical solo guitar introduction, then the tenor states the theme and the piece stretches into long improvisation over soft guitar chords. Wayne Shorter's Lady Day, his homage to Billie Holiday, gets a warm opening and a sliding, singing solo from Lage. The closing Congregation, a relaxed groove piece, works its way through blues, funk, soul and gospel, as its title suggests.

In DownBeat Michael Jackson called the album "luminous, succinct and quite stunning". John Fordham made it jazz album of the month in The Guardian and described it as "a late-career triumph from a tireless maestro of the saxophone". Critics in Germany were as warm: Rondo gave it five stars, and Audio + Stereoplay named it jazz CD of the month. Several reviewers singled out Lage, whose ballad playing on the two covers drew the most attention.

This is the LP edition of ECM 2855, released in May 2026 on 140-150 gram vinyl, alongside the CD.