Clarity and flow are two qualities of Water that are abundant throughout this first of four jazz suites inspired by the prime elements (Earth, Air and Fire are forthcoming) conceived and realized by brilliant reedist David Liebman. Playing soprano and tenor saxophones and a simple but piquant wood flute, with guitarist Pat Metheny, bassist Cecil McBee and drummer Billy Hart and creatively supportive producer Bob Karcy as estimable collaborators, Liebman draws upon, delves deep into and distills a music that resembles the essential liquid — a music roiling and placid, pellucid while in constant flux.

From "Water: Giver of Life," the introduction crystallized by Metheny on acoustic steel-stringed guitar, through its concluding reprise by the quartet, Liebman and company find myriad means to take water's measure, evoking the purity of its natural state, its sparkle, its power and the grace of its stream. The leader's signature soprano sax, sensitive bass and drums enter in "Heaven's Gift," the first variation on the theme, like several rivulets simultaneously purling on the way to brook, stream, river, sea. After the bass line is established, "White Caps" develops quickly to a sudden squalling fury — the clash of Liebman's gusty tenor and Metheny's edgy guitar synth over McBee's harmonic buoys and Hart's challenging waves — then resolves in a brisk, straight-ahead rendering of the tune, a vision that would speed along but not upset a trim vessel.

There's another swelling bass interlude — McBee's quicksilver current runs strong under everything — feeding into "Reflecting Pool," on which Liebman breathes to life a recorder-like flute (chosen from his collection of some 60 single and double-reed instruments from around world) and Metheny summons ethereal sound fields from his Picasso guitar (with 48 strings, divided into three sets of 12 each and two of six each, one of those strung slanting across the others). "Storm Surge" builds gradually from a breeze to relentless pounding, stirred from the bottom by Hart, who partnered Liebman for 10 years in the collective quartet Quest. In "Baptismal Font" Liebman and Metheny duet as though bathed in the acoustic reverberations of an underground chapel, and "Ebb and Flow," with its call and response, can be heard as a paean to the tides.

But it's a mistake to approach this program with an ear to specific equivalencies or a tight-scripted narrative. That's not how it came to pass. Liebman has known Metheny since the early '80s (though they've not recorded before), Hart since the late '70s, and McBee for a couple decades, too. Having sketched the suite and investigated Pat's guitar array, Liebman ushered the band through rehearsal, a live performance at Delaware Water Gap's Deer Head Inn and two days at the Red Rock studio near his home in the Poconos where he's recorded some 25-30 albums. The musicians' virtuosic and intuitive skills, the concentration of the schedule and the structural coherence of Liebman's composition contributed to the results: music that compels and rewards repeated listening.

Air — yes, it sustains us, however insubstantial it remains. Earth is a fine thing to hold on to, though rather inert. Fire is the fascinating, exhausting burn. But water! — savored by all Earthlings, and to date the very sine qua non of life. In myth, since well before The Flood. All the way back to Day One, it's been water, water, everywhere. The world can be held in a teardrop, and yet, by definition, water is a substance that's oceanic... Water, by David Liebman and friends, is just so refreshing. Take the cup, have a sip, quench your thirst.

—Howard Mandel (Down Beat, Jazziz, The Wire, et al)