This ECM compilation pairs Fusion and Thesis, two albums by clarinetist Jimmy Giuffre’s trio with pianist Paul Bley and bassist Steve Swallow recorded in March and August 1961 and originally released on Verve. The drumless group is one of the paradigmatic chamber jazz ensembles, creating music that has the intense focus of avant-garde jazz but the restraint of modern classical. Nobody is screaming or pounding their instrument here, though Swallow’s bass playing displays great force at times. Carla Bley, then still married to Paul (she later spent decades with Swallow), contributes several compositions, including the herky-jerky “Ictus” and the elegiac, meditative “Jesus Maria.” Most of the others are by Giuffre. “Cry, Want” is a ballad so pained it’s like eavesdropping on someone sobbing on the other side of the wall, while “Whirrrr” has the leaping, almost cartoonish energy of Raymond Scott, but also manages to be a showcase for the leader’s virtuosic command of the clarinet.