The Ecco Trio – Junko Ohtsu on violin, Evelyn Elsing on cello, and Colette Valentine on piano – performs music by Gershwin, Strayhorn, Joplin, Mingus, and Heilman. (Jazz, Classical) CD

... CD

... LP, Vinyl record album

A pivotal album from minimalist genius Steve Reich – a record that got him into living rooms across America – thanks to the album's higher concept, and key participation of the Kronos Quartet and guitarist Pat Metheny! Kronos perform on the long title track "Different Trains" – a piece that is both a meditation on train travel and its role in the Holocaust – performed by the quartet with additional sounds from Reich on tape! Metheny's guitar sounds fantastic on "Electric Counterpoint" – a work that's completely faithful to the amazing range of tones and colors he'd been bringing to his own albums for years, but which also reworks things with Reich's minimal modes. (Out Sound, Classical) CD