“We have a special light [in Poland], not dark, but gray,” Polish trumpet vanguard Tomasz Sta´nko told me at the Montreal Jazz Festival last year. “A lot of grays. This gray, when you open your eyes, it’s the first light you see. You remember that forever.” Here are four four-star ECM titles illustrating precisely that.

Balladyna (1976)

Battle royale quartet, featuring double-bass behemoth Dave Holland.

Litania – Music of Krzysztof Komeda (1997)

Affecting tribute to Polish film composer, pianist, and Sta´nko’s onetime boss.

Soul of Things (2002)

Fusion of Sta´nko and his atomic Polski backing trio.

Suspended Night (2004)

Sulfurous balladyna.

This article appears in November 25 • 2011.

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San Francisco native Raoul Hernandez crossed the border into Texas on July 2, 1992, and began writing about music for the Chronicle that fall, debuting with an album review of Keith Richards’ Main Offender. By virtue of local show previews – first “Recommendeds,” now calendar picks – his writing’s appeared in almost every issue since 1993.