JAZZ SPOTLIGHT

Record companies often reflect the musical and cultural attitudes of their founders. To mention only a few examples: Blue Note, especially in the ‘50s and ‘60s, released a series of albums that expressed the jazz beliefs of Alfred Lion and Francis Wolff; Commodore specialized in Milt Gabler’s favorite mainstream music; Verve, during the four years Norman Granz controlled it, emphasized releases by the major artists--Ella Fitzgerald, Louis Armstrong and Count Basie were a few--who were his favorites.

ECM Records, in existence for 27 years, is no exception. Virtually every album produced by the label has been produced by the man who originated the company, Manfred Eicher. Recorded with meticulous concern for technical detail and manufactured with the highest-quality components, ECM’s releases have provided a model for the production of the finest jazz albums.

They also have had an almost immediately identifiable “feel,” even though the styles of music have ranged widely. ECM’s first release was “Free at Last,” a Mal Waldron album. Albums by Keith Jarrett, Jan Garbarek, Chick Corea, Dave Holland, Paul Bley, Gary Burton and Terje Rypdal followed. In most cases, and especially in the case of the European players, the albums had a cool, sometimes detached, even intellectual quality. They impressed more for their compelling musical interest than for their sense of unleashed musical excitement. But the provocative range of music encompassed by Eicher’s overview--it now additionally embraces world music, contemporary concert music and film music--more than compensates for any lacking in visceral energies.

These three new releases typify the diversity in Eicher’s approach.

Saxophonist Lloyd, who walked away from widespread popularity in the ‘60s and stayed away from touring for nearly two decades, has largely chosen to return to his art in the company of Nordic musicians, in ECM’s European studios (this is his fifth album for the company). This time out, he is accompanied by longtime associate Bobo Stenson, piano, the superb bassist Anders Jormin and American drummer Billy Hart.

“Canto” is yet another step forward in Lloyd’s increasingly fascinating quest for improvisations that manage to combine the seemingly contradictory qualities of soaring airiness and rich creative density. He succeeds frequently in this attractive outing--most often when he moves away from the specificity of the Coltrane elements that have long been an essential, sometimes overwhelming, facet of his style. But what is most intriguing about the album is its sense of endeavor, its sense of moving forward toward an as-yet-undetermined destination.

Towner is known for his work with the group Oregon as well as his long string of albums on ECM in the company of players such as Garbarek, John Abercrombie and Gary Burton. He also is a gifted, classically oriented guitarist and composer. This set of 12 pieces--some only a couple of minutes in length--range from the Baroque-sounding to the edgily contemporary, performed on classical and 12-string guitars.

There are brightly rhythmic pieces and thoughtful, ruminative works. In addition to his insightful understanding of the guitar, Towner is also a talented melodist, and several of the pieces (“Green and Golden” is one) are endowed with lovely, floating melodies. On the seven works devised for the 12-string instrument, he exploits its myriad potential for unusual combinations of sound and texture. Some--”Sage Brush Rider”--groove with clatteringly, driving forward motion.

Argentine virtuoso Dino Saluzzi is a master of the bandoneon (an accordion-like instrument). But his music--which defies definition--sounds nothing like the familiar chestnuts usually associated with the accordion. Working with his son, guitarist Jose M. Saluzzi, and bassist Marc Johnson, Saluzzi performs a program of Latin-tinged originals filled with an atmospheric sense of slow simmering passion.

This is gorgeous, captivating music. Never using the rich sound of his instrument to overwhelm, always working in intricate exchanges with the other players, Saluzzi is a master of subtlety and understatement. Is it jazz? Only by the broadest definition. But it shares with jazz the desire to express the imagery of the most complex inner emotions via the immediacy of spontaneous musical discovery.

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Albums are rated on a scale of one star (poor) to four stars (excellent).