Ralph Alessi’s fourth appearance as a leader for the label follows a singular album run that’s been met with nothing but praise from The New York Times to The Guardian. The latter lauded Ralph’s previous recording Imaginary Friends (2019) for its “elegant balance of poignant, playful original compositions and gracefully probing improv” and declared it “his best album yet”. It’s Always Now however brims with arguments that there is a new contender for that title. On his new album, Alessi’s unique tone is as limber, piercing and present as ever, enveloped by a fresh quartet line-up – pianist Florian Weber, Bänz Oester on bass and drummer Gerry Hemingway – that navigates through the trumpeter’s idiosyncratically swinging compositions with a sixth sense. The album is not only a continuation of the leader’s work but also records Florian’s evolution on the label, this being his fourth album with ECM to date. His distinctive harmonic approach on keys is as evident in leader settings as in the role of a sideman, and his deep sensibility for Alessi’s pulse enhances this session, which was produced by Manfred Eicher.

The French master guitarist Marc Ducret became a member of the "Orchestre National de Jazz" in 1986, toured Europe, Africa and Asia in the 1980s and played with Michel Portal and Joachim Kühn in New York City. He was also a member of Louis Sclavis' "Acoustic Quartet" and a regular in drummer Daniel Humair's bands. Since 1991, Ducret has been working with the New York-based saxophonist Tim Berne in the bands "Caos Totale", "Bloodcount" and "Big Satan", among others.

Drummer, composer and educator Jim Black has become one of the most sought after avant-garde jazz and experimental rock since he became one of New York's downtown scene in the 90s. He was born in 1967 in Daily City, California, and grew up in the fertile music scene of Seattle, WA. he moved to Boston and graduated from Berklee College of Music in 1989. While there, Black and fellow Seattle musicians Chris Speed and Andrew D'Angelo formed the band Human Feel with guitarist Kurt Rosenwinkel. In 1991, Black and the other members of Human Feel moved to Brooklyn, NY, where they found a home in the downtown music scene surrounding the Knitting Factory and quickly became the city's busiest sidemen. Black's early years in New York saw him playing in some of the most critically acclaimed bands such as Tim Berne's Bloodcount, Ellery Eskelin's Trio, Pachora and Dave Douglas' Tiny Bell Trio. Douglas' Tiny Bell Trio. Thus began thirty years of almost constant touring and recording with the aforementioned bands as well as artists such as Uri Caine, Dave Liebman, Lee Konitz, Steve Coleman, Tomasz Stanko, Nels Cline and Laurie Anderson. In 2000, Black founded the rock-inspired quartet AlasNoAxis, with whom he recorded six albums of his compositions for the German label Winter & Winter. In 2010, he founded the Jim Black Trio with pianist Elias Stemeseder and Thomas Morgan on bass, with whom he released a total of four albums, the last of which was the award-winning Reckon on the Swiss label Intakt.