10 December 2007
IAJRCCan you imagine a compact disc where you have two musicians' masters of their respective instruments and making music together as one person? That, in a nutshell, is what you have here.
The music is economical and so laid back that one be tempted to use it as background music while reading. Please don't. It is far too vital for that. I found that when I listened to this music intently, I was drawn in and became part of it. That is an uncommon experience especially when you have two players creating it in the fcirst place.All the music save for the one tune, was composed by these two men. That one tune is a Fred Hersch number, "Child's Play". On that particular tune Charlie Haden is so laid back that you feel him as music as you hear him. He does come forth and take a great solo later in this 8 minute opus. This interplay between the two masters is present throughout the CD. I have no particular favourite tune in this set. They vary in length from just over two and a half minutes for "Nocturne" to just over 11 minutes for the last tune, " For Turiya". There are no notes with the CD so one can only guess at the meaning of the tunes in most instances. That may be my only criticism. The recording sound is fine and as you can see, the playing is of a high standard.