Although ECM celebrated its monumental 50th anniversary not too long ago, there was a flurry of activity surrounding its 40th as well, including Anniversary Waltz, a promotional sampler where jazz, folk memory, chamber poise, and improvisational risk come together in characteristic fashion. The compilation’s title tune comes from the John Abercrombie Quartet’s Wait Till You See Her (ECM 2102), which also happened to mark bassist Thomas Morgan’s debut for the label. Violinist Mark Feldman brings a robust yet gymnastic tone, while drummer Joey Baron keeps the pulse suspended between delicacy and ignition. “Anniversary Waltz” is a master class in building swing from restraint, finding its deepest momentum in what the players decline to force. Abercrombie’s guitar enters with lyrical tact, almost phosphorescent in its gentleness, while Feldman’s violin draws a darker thread through the fabric, giving the piece its inward flame. Reflection and fire coil around the same center until the band’s signature sound emerges with the clarity of a lamp being lit underwater.

Before that title piece arrives, the sampler establishes its grammar of passage through two superb tracks. The opening gambit belongs to the Tomasz Stanko Quintet, placing the trumpeter alongside pianist Alexi Tuomarila, guitarist Jakob Bro, bassist Anders Christensen, and drummer Olavi Louhivuori. “Terminal 7,” from Dark Eyes (ECM 2115), is already a title of departure, but the music resists ordinary itinerary. Stanko takes the pilot’s chair with that bruised, sovereign tone of his, a sound carrying both command and fracture. Around him, the ensemble smooths disparate instrumental temperaments into a shaded cool so fine-grained it oozes gradation. Bro’s guitar rises from below with slow hypnosis. This quintessential travel song moves without hurry, turning transit into metaphysics.

“Dom de iludir” then carries us into the deeper contemplations of the Stefano Bollani Trio’s Stone In The Water (ECM 2080). Bollani approaches Caetano Veloso’s tune with a thoughtful touch all his own. Bassist Jesper Bodilsen becomes a central figure in this vignette, anchoring the performance with warmth. Morten Lund’s brushes away the dust of recollection until old images resound with startling immediacy. From there, Anouar Brahem’s “Al Birwa,” taken from The Astounding Eyes Of Rita (ECM 2075), widens the sampler’s geography without breaking its spell. Brahem’s oud curves through the piece with devotional precision, supported by Khaled Yassine on goblet drum, Klaus Gesing on bass clarinet, and Björn Meyer on electric bass. The resulting colors are circular and gorgeously diagrammed, a music of arcs, apertures, and quiet revolutions.

The energy rises with “Paper Nut,” drawn from the Jan Garbarek Group’s live album Dresden (ECM 2100/01). With Eberhard Weber unable to perform, Yuri Daniel steps into the bassist’s role, interlocking with pianist Rainer Brüninghaus and drummer Manu Katché in seamless propulsion. First heard on Song for Everyone (ECM 1286), the tune lends its unforgettable melody to the ear as an act of abundance, cutting mineral veins through the bedrock of jazz toward something older than idiom. Garbarek’s sound has always carried the paradox of distance made intimate, and here that quality becomes almost architectural, a bridge built out of breath. A smoother spirit follows in “Song Of Praise,” representing Steve Kuhn’s Mostly Coltrane (ECM 2099). Joined by saxophonist Joe Lovano, bassist David Finck, and Joey Baron, Kuhn swings through homage without becoming trapped by reverence. The piece honors Coltrane by refusing embalmed devotion, choosing motion over monument. Its praise is kinetic, lucid, and alive to the tremor beneath gratitude.

That thread leads naturally into “Hilltop Dancer,” from the John Surman Quartet’s Brewster’s Rooster (ECM 2046). With Abercrombie on guitar, Drew Gress on bass (making an ECM debut of his own), and Jack DeJohnette driving from the drums, the performance has the bite of open air and the density of worked metal. Surman’s baritone is full-bodied and protein-rich, a sound that seems to have roots and antlers. Abercrombie surveys from low altitude, tracing oblique paths across the tune’s robust theme, while the rhythm section gives the whole thing a spring-loaded acuity. “Surfing With Michel” then ushers in the Miroslav Vitous Group’s contribution, a lively duet sourced between the bassist and Michel Portal on bass clarinet sourced from Remembering Weather Report (ECM 2073). Its experimental cast feels playful rather than forbidding, turning dialogue into a kind of lucid mischief. Finally, “London Part XII” from Keith Jarrett’s Paris/London: Testament (ECM 2130-32) brings the anthology to a gospel-inflected radiance.

As a commemorative object, Anniversary Waltz moves as a chain of awakenings during one of its more exciting years of releases. The result is a question gently placed before consciousness, one that can only be answered by listening to it anew.