It's always interesting when a band backs a star but also has a life of its own. I suppose The Band were among the greatest in this regard. The Simple Acoustic trio, aka Marcin Wasilewski's trio, aka Stańko's Soul of Things band, as they’re known in different ways, existed in their own right pre-Stańko on the early-1990s Warsaw jazz scene, pianist Wasilewski and bassist Sławomir Kurkiewicz coming down from the north to team with drummer Michał Miśkiewicz. Then with Stańko everybody on the international jazz scene got to know who they were, and they then made their own records for ECM which are justifiably connoisseurs’ choices particularly 2011’s Faithful.

The trio have now joined forces as “the band” for cultured Lillehammer-born Jim Hall-and-John Abercrombie-influenced guitarist Jacob Young who has also recruited saxophonist Trygve Seim for Forever Young, now confirmed for a 19 May release. It's all change for Young with this new line-up almost a decade on from the release of Evening Falls, his first album for Manfred Eicher’s label. This new one released seven years on from Sideways was recorded in Oslo last August and in case you were wondering doesn't feature anything by Alphaville or alas, although that might be just too neat, a certain song from Planet Waves.

The cover of Forever Young top; and the Wasilewski trio (l-r: Michał Miśkiewicz, Marcin Wasilewski, and Sławomir Kurkiewicz). Photo ECM