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A precursor might be Miles Davis’ Kind of Blue, which, far from being the first foray into modality and its implications, was certainly a hot point on the spatial spectrum, magnifying time interval and articulation as duration and achieving longevity in the process. The obvious connection between that landmark album and The Gleaners is John Coltrane, whose “Compassion” Grenadier treats and presents in cleverly appropriate tandem with Paul Motian’s “The Owl of Cranston,” but his is as much controlled flight of fancy as literal revamp. Homage is certainly present in “Pettiford,” and that bassist’s far-too-brief career is encapsulated with circumspect beauty as the implied changes drift, stomp and swerve by, but even Grenadier’s swing-into-bop pizzicato is reflective rather than heated. Incendiary phrases spark, sputter and hang nearly detached over spaces in which the mind allows them to percolate, their ramifications allowing breathing room akin to each note he plays.

Grenadier’s other compositions are formed from similarly atomistic stuff. The aptly titled “Oceanic” grows in waves from a low-register pitch, and it’s difficult to resist being drawn in as that Lydian thing is slowly transformed, via spatially diverse dyads, into nuanced blues. The two areas of musical concentration occur in slow graceful dance, as does the modally mixed transition from Coltrane to Motian later in the album. The Gleaners exists in spaces just on the point of definition, simultaneously exploited and abandoned. The title track’s complex harmonic model morphs, mutating with each added pitch, while its constituent harmonics simultaneously offer a gorgeous timbral concession, even an antidote of sorts. “Woebegone” stretches boundaries even further as pedal tones are overdubbed, demonstrating the bassist’s orchestral gifts. As with so many ECM releases, a superb recording ensures that repeated listening exposes the layers of detail that justify the disc’s title. Modified repetition, modal mixture, space and homage only expose part of the Gleaners’ narrative, and each audition brings more of Grenadier’s world into focus.