In its four-plus decade career, ECM Records has done more to blur, stretch and dissolve musical boundaries than any other label on the planet. With the world becoming a smaller place it's also become a fertile breeding ground for cross-cultural, cross-genre cross-pollination, with ECM on the vanguard of the inevitable consequences, having released countless examples of a fearless rejection of anything but the idea that music is simply music. Yes, there are delineations, but only for the purposes of trying to pigeonhole the music, something many musicians steadfastly reject.

Iva Bittov�� is clearly one of those musicians. Her first label appearance, as featured vocalist, on Vladim��r God��r's decidedly classical Mater (2008), represented but one of her many talents. Bittov�� is also a fine violinist, but on her simply titled leader debut, Iva Bittov��, she demonstrates not just her capable skills as a singer and violinist; on some of the equally austerely titled tracks—numbered simply "Fragment I" to "Fragment XII"—she also adds kalimba to the mix. A recital of stark but warm yet haunting clarity, it's impossible to categorize. Is it folk music? There's little doubt that the music of her native northern Moravia (at the time of her birth, still part of Czechoslovakia) imbues the proceedings. Is it classical music? It's equally clear that her musical family and academic training in drama, music and ballet prepared her for a life in that environs. Is it jazz? Perhaps not, but improvisation is clearly a part of her bigger picture, with additional cred from Moravian Gems (CubeMeteier), her 2007 date with bassist