John Abercrombie made his ECM leader debut in 1974 with the aptly named Timeless. He has been one of the label's core artists ever since. He has played on more than fifty ECM sessions, both as a leader and as a highly creative contributor to recordings with Charles Lloyd, Kenny Wheeler, Jan Garbarek, Collin Walcott, Jack DeJohnette, Enrico Rava, Barre Phillips, Dave Liebman and more. Along the way his playing has evolved, becoming as he says, both more ‘free' and more ‘traditional'.

In the early-70s, Abercrombie met Manfred Eicher, who invited him to record for ECM. The result was Abercrombie's first solo album, Timeless, in which he was joined by Jan Hammer and Jack DeJohnette. The genre-defying 6-song collection is comprised of four of his vibrant originals plus two equally as compelling works by Hammer. As Abercrombie puts is, "I'd like people to perceive me as having a direct connection to the history of jazz guitar, while expanding some musical boundaries." That's certainly the case here.