PAUL BLEY TRIO - Closer (1965) Two Version (1993, Serie ESP-Disk New Jazz 名盤 Collection) + (2013, RM | 50th Anniversary Edition) FLAC (tracks+.cue), lossless

The second ESP issue from the Paul Bley Trio is a contrast as dramatic as rain against sunshine. The earlier album, Barrage, recorded in October of 1964, was full of harsh, diffident extrapolations of sound and fury, perhaps because of its sidemen; Marshall Allen and Dewey Johnson on saxophone and trumpet, respectively, were on loan from Sun Ra and joined Eddie Gomez and Milford Graves. Indeed, the music there felt like one long struggle to survive. On this date, recorded over a year later and released in 1966, Bley's sidemen are two more like-minded experimentalists, drummer Barry Altschul and bassist Steve Swallow. The program of tunes here is also more even-handed and characteristically lush: the entire first side and two on the second were written by Carla Bley (including the gorgeous "Ida Lupino") for a total of seven, and there is one each by pianists Annette Peacock and Ornette Coleman. Bley and his trio understand that with compositions of this nature, full of space and an inherent, interior-pointing lyricism, that pace is everything. And while this set clocks in at just over 29 minutes in length, the playing is so genuine and moving that it doesn't need to be any longer. The interplay between these three (long before Swallow switched to electric bass exclusively) is startling in how tightly woven they are melodically and harmonically. There isn't a sense that one player -- other than the volume of Mr. Bley's piano in this crappy mix -- stands out from the other two; they are of a piece traveling down this opaque yet warm road together. Bley may never have been as flashy as Cecil Taylor, but he is every bit the innovator.

-> This comment is posted on Allmusic by Thom Jurek, follower of our blog 'O Púbis da Rosa' <-
Tracklist :
1    Ida    2:58
2    Start    2:07
3    Closer    3:34
4    Sideways In Mexico    2:59
5    Batterie    3:23
6    And Now The Queen    2:18
7    Figfoot    3:29
8    Crossroads    2:34
9    Violin    2:59
10    Cartoon    2:19
Credits :
Bass – Steve Swallow
Percussion – Barry Altschul
Piano – Paul Bley

ANNETTE PEACOCK — I'm the One (1972-2012) RM | FLAC (tracks+.cue), lossless

Tracklist :
1    I'm The One    8:45
 Written-By – Annette Peacock / Bob Ringe
2    7 Days    3:54
 Written-By – Annette Peacock / Bob Ringe
3    Pony    6:15
 Written-By – Annette Peacock
4    Been & Gone    2:20
 Written-By – Annette Peacock / Bob Ringe
5    Blood    2:00
 Written-By – Annette Peacock / Bob Ringe
6    One Way    6:12
 Written-By – Annette Peacock / Bob Ringe
7    Love Me Tender    3:45
 Written-By – Elvis Presley / Vera Matson
8    Gesture Without Plot    3:29
 Written-By – Annette Peacock / Bob Ringe
9    Did You Hear Me Mommy?    1:44
 Written-By – Annette Peacock / Bob Ringe
Credits :
Performer [Players, "The Team"], Bass – Glen Moore (tracks: 5), Stu Woods
Performer [Players, "The Team"], Composed By [Music & Words], Arranged By [Arranger], Vocals [Singer, Electric Vocals], Piano, Electric Piano, Synthesizer [Synthesizers], Vibraphone [Electric], Directed By [Direction], Liner Notes – Annette Peacock
Performer [Players, "The Team"], Drums – Laurence Cook (tracks: 8), Rick Morotta
Performer [Players, "The Team"], Guitar – Tom Cosgrove
Performer [Players, "The Team"], Organ – Michael Garson (tracks: 1, 6)
Performer [Players, "The Team"], Percussion – Airto Moreira, Barry Altschul, Dom Um Romão, Orestes Vilato
Performer [Players, "The Team"], Piano – Apache Bley (tracks: 9), Michael Garson (tracks: 1)
Performer [Players, "The Team"], Synthesizer, Piano – Paul Bley (tracks: 5, 8)
Performer [Players, "The Team"], Tenor Saxophone [Tenor] – Michael Moss

PAUL BLEY | JOHN GILMORE | PAUL MOTIAN | GARY PEACOCK — Turning Point (1975-1994) FLAC (tracks+.cue) lossless

Recorded for Muse Records in 1967 as Grant Green was on an extended recording hiatus -- it was his only record between 1965's His Majesty, King Funk, his only album for Verve, and 1969's Carryin' On, his return to Blue Note -- Iron City actually captures the guitarist in fine form, jamming on six blues and R&B numbers with his longtime cohorts, organist Big John Patton and drummer Ben Dixon. The trio members had long ago perfected their interplay, and they just cook on Iron City, working a hot groove on each song. Even the slow blues "Motherless Child" has a distinct swing in its backbeat, but most of the album finds the trio tearing through uptempo grooves with a vengeance. Green's playing is a bit busier than normal and he solos far more often than Patton, who lays back through most of the album, providing infectious vamps and lead lines. The two styles mesh perfectly with Dixon's deft drumming, resulting in a fine, overlooked date that showcases some of Green's hottest, bluesiest playing. Stephen Thomas Erlewine
Tracklist :
1    Calls    6:10
 Carla Bley
2    Turning    6:30
 Paul Bley
3    King Korn    6:00
 Carla Bley
4    Ictus    4:05
 Carla Bley
5    Mr Joy    3:50
 Annette Peacock
6    Kid Dynamite    3:40
 Annette Peacock
7    Ida Lupino    5:20
 Carla Bley
Credits :
Paul Bley - Piano
John Gilmore - Tenor Saxophone
Gary Peacock - Bass
Paul Motian - Drums
Billy Elgart - Drums on Nr. 5 & 6

JIMMY GIUFFRE — Free Fall (1962-1998) RM | APE (image+.cue), lossless

 Jimmy Giuffre's 1962 recording for Columbia with his trio is one of the most revolutionary recordings to come out of the 1960s. While Coltrane and Coleman and Taylor were trying to tear music down from the inside out to discover what it really counted for, Giuffre was quietly creating his own microtonal revolution that was being overlooked by other avant-gardists in jazz. On Free Fall, Giuffre, pianist Paul Bley, and bassist Steve Swallow embarked on a voyage even farther-reaching than their previous two Verve albums, Fusion and Thesis (both recorded in 1961), in their search of pointillistic harmony, open-toned playing, and the power of the nuanced phrase to open new vistas for solo or group improvisation. The original album is comprised of five clarinet solos, two duets for clarinet and bass, and three trio pieces. The CD reissue adds five more clarinet solos to the bank and makes it a stunning view of Giuffre as a master of the idiom of not only jazz free improvisation but also a fine interpreter of the musical languages being discussed by classical composers Darius Milhaud, Stravinsky, Messiaen, and even Morton Feldman and Earle Brown. All of Giuffre's clarinet studies -- particularly "Man Alone," "Yggdrasill," and "Present Motion" -- are studies in tonal coloration, where phraseology opens onto second and third tonal ideas being layered atop one another to de-emphasize one or the other. Of the group interactions, "Threewe" and "Spasmodic" offer the view of intertwining chromatic pointillism as it shapes itself linguistically between one instrument and the next without concern for a dominant harmony, rhythm, or melody. Indeed, Free Fall was such radical music, no one, literally no one, was ready for it and the group disbanded shortly thereafter on a night when they made only 35 cents apiece for a set. Reissued in 1999, Free Fall predates all of the European microtonal studies and is indeed an inspiration to all who have
-> This comment is posted on Allmusic by Thom Jurek, follower of our blog 'O Púbis da Rosa' <-
Tracklist :
1. Propulsion (3:07)
 Jimmy Giuffre
2. Threewe (4:11)
 Jimmy Giuffre
3. Ornothoids (2:43)
 Jimmy Giuffre
4. Dichotomy (3:57)
 Jimmy Giuffre
5. Man Alone (2:18)
 Jimmy Giuffre
6. Spasmodic (3:27)
 Jimmy Giuffre
7. Yggdrasill (2:32)
 Jimmy Giuffre
8. Divided Man (1:53)
 Jimmy Giuffre
9. Primordial Call (2:17)
 Jimmy Giuffre
10. The Five Ways (10:19)
 Jimmy Giuffre
11. Present Notion (3:41)
 Jimmy Giuffre
12. Motion Suspended (3:16)
 Jimmy Giuffre
13. Future Plans (3:56)
 Jimmy Giuffre
14. Past Mistakes (2:05)
 Jimmy Giuffre
15. Time Will Tell (3:49)
 Jimmy Giuffre
16. Let's See (3:26)
 Jimmy Giuffre
Credits :
Paul Bley - Piano (tracks 2, 6, 10, 12)
Jimmy Giuffre - Clarinet
Steve Swallow - Double Bass (tracks 2, 4, 6, 8, 10, 12)

JACO PASTORIUS | PAT METHENY | PAUL BLEY | BRUCE DITMAS — Jaco (1974-1995) Unofficial Release | FLAC (tracks+.cue), lossless

Although listeners often think of Jaco Pastorius' first solo album as 1976's Jaco on Epic, producer/keyboardist Paul Bley actually gave Pastorius his first official chance at professional recording two years earlier. Coincidentally titled Jaco (originally titled Pastorious/Metheny/Ditmas/Bley), this spontaneous set is also significant for being among guitarist Pat Metheny's first recordings; completing the quartet are Bley on electric piano and drummer Bruce Ditmas. The music consists of three songs by Bley, five from Carla Bley, and "Blood" by Annette Peacock. Pastorius sounds quite powerful, but Metheny's tone is kind of bizarre, very distorted, and not at all distinctive at this point. The recording quality is a bit shaky throughout the electronic set, and the group does not quite live up to its potential, but Pastorius shows that he was already an innovative player, making this an LP of historic interest. Scott Yanow
Tracklist :
1 Vashkar (Carla Bley) - 9:55
2 Poconos (Paul Bley) - 1:00
3 Donkey (Carla Bley) - 6:28
4 Vampira (Paul Bley) - 7:15
5 Overtoned (Carla Bley) - 1:04
6 Jaco (Paul Bley) - 3:45
7 Batterie (Carla Bley) - 5:12
8 King Korn (Carla Bley) - 0:29
9 Blood (Annette Peacock) - 1:28
Credits :
Jaco Pastorius - Bass Guitar
Pat Metheny - Guitar
Bruce Ditmas - Drums
Paul Bley - Electric Piano

PAUL BLEY — Tango Palace (1985) FLAC (tracks+.cue), lossless

An alarm mechanism goes off at the sight of another solo album by this artist; the acquisition of a complete collection would surely cause floors to sag. Still, the dapper Paul Bley, pipe alit, will arrive at the studio, and by the end of the day a project is completed, with attention paid to all the details that will make such an album an enjoyable, varied listening experience. "C.G" appears to have him musically gazing out the window, perhaps a needed respite after the peppy opening title tune. Fans of tango should savor that moment; it is the only example of that style on the entire album. "Woogie" literally invites the listener to a wedding, notes tossed out like rice in the opening passages.

Bley digs deeper as the program progresses, with the gaze now out the window of a train, en route from gig to gig, a life of music passing by in a pattern of reminiscing. This can be heard in the references to melodies and styles, the little nuances that can peel 40 years off the music right before your ears. "But Beautiful" has just the right amount of build for a ballad, never upsetting the gentleness of its nature. The second side's opener, "Return to Love," has an amazing amount of detail and contrast; it is simply played beautifully, but appears to fade abruptly. "Bound" begins like a Thelonious Monk tune, then is abruptly abducted off to a land of more space than sound. As its two-and-a-half-minute length nervously unfolds, Bley alternates brief moments of emphasis with jewel-like chordal strokes that recall Satie. It is a wonderfully casual performance, and very deep.

Elsewhere, the pianist does some interesting swing, walking with an effective kind of halting motion before flitting off into the high register as if sewing a pocket shut. True, some mannerisms reappear as if a tired mind was trying to finish a job, including a kind of hackneyed use of the sustain pedal along with ringing high notes. "Please" is extremely pretty, a nice suggestion as a track to play to lure listeners into jazz piano piece, but it also fades out. "Explain" provides the final five minutes; one can almost hear the producer mouthing "What? Another slow one?" behind the glass. Eugene Chadbourne 
Tracklist & Credits :

PAUL BLEY & JESPER LUNDGAARD — Live (1986-1989) FLAC (tracks+.cue), lossless

Tracklist & Credits :

PAUL BLEY & JESPER LUNDGAARD — Live Again (1987) APE (image+.cue), lossless

Tracklist & Credits :

PAUL BLEY — Fragments (1986) FLAC (tracks+.cue), lossless

Having worked early on with everyone from Charlie Parker and Charles Mingus to Chet Baker and Jimmy Giuffre, Canadian pianist Paul Bley created a solid jazz base for his own distinctly sparse and plaintive style. In the '60s he gravitated toward free jazz, but with less of the freneticism of a Cecil Taylor and more as a melancholic minimalist who would leave his mark on such introverted tinklers as Keith Jarrett. Since the dawn of the '70s, Bley has elaborated on his brand of chamber jazz via a slew of independent jazz labels, including Steeplechase, Soul Note, Owl, and hatART. But it's on the German ECM label where he has scored some of his most impressive triumphs; this 1986 session ranks high among his many solo and group outings for the label. Nicely assisted by '60s cohort and drummer Paul Motian, guitarist Bill Frisell, and saxophonist John Surman, Bley ranges wide, from his own diffusely meditative opener ("Memories") and two wintry ballads by Carla Bley ("Seven" and "Closer") to a noisy workout by Surman ("Line Down") and a mercurial swinger from Motian ("Once Around the Park"). Adding to the wealth of quality material here are cuts by Frisell and Annette Peacock. Overcast and a bit icy as one might expect, but nevertheless Bley's Fragments makes for a consistently provocative and enjoyable listen. Stephen Cook  Tracklist & Credits :

BLEY | MOTIAN — Notes (1988) FLAC (tracks+.cue), lossless

This collection of 19 shortish piano and drum duets has caused the same reaction in several different fans of Paul Bley, so probably shouldn't be dismissed as quickly as the performers seemed to each track go by. Initial listings inspire indifference, in some case sneers, as it seems the two veteran players and longtime musical parners are improvising as if facing a row of judges who have given them time limits. This image addresses the brevity of the tracks, but not the lack of any palpable urgency, a quality that it is assumed would be rampant in anyone addressing such a court.

Superficially, the set of musical miniatures brings to mind a classic Erroll Garner side, in which each in a series of two, three and four minute tracks opens up an entire musical cosmos as well as inviting in the apparition of romance and the smell of perfume. None of that happens at all here, the tracks basically having the flatness and relative lack of detail of the album's cover illustration. These performances have a lingering quality, however, certain moments eventually acquirng magic like illuminations, even though it is all mere residue under the fingers of players who seemingly can create beauty in their sleep. "West 107th Street" is music for an imaginary movie, "Love Hurts" almost manages to deny feeling, and "Batterie" in its millionth recording still puts new thoughts in the pianist's mind. Eugene Chadbourne
Tracklist & Credits :

PAUL BLEY — The Paul Bley Quartet (1988) FLAC (tracks+.cue), lossless

This 1987 date teams the iconoclastic pianist with guitarist Bill Frisell, drummer Paul Motian, and British saxophonist John Surman. While it's easy to argue that, with Manfred Eicher's icy, crystalline production, this was a stock date for both the artists and the label, that argument would be flat wrong. Bley was looking for a new lyricism in his own playing and in his compositions. He was coming from a different place than the large harmonies offered by augmented and suspended chords and writing for piano trios. The other band members -- two other extremely lyrical improvisers in Surman and Frisell (who prized understatement as the veritable doorway to lyricism) and a drummer who was better known for his dancing through rhythms than playing them in Motian -- were the perfect foils. For the opening solos of "Interplay," Bley traipses around Frisell with a sparse elegance as the guitarist single notes his way into the heart of the piece's silence before Surman draws the entire band out of it with Bley painting the backdrops in the exit. Or there's Surman's "One in Four," written for Bley, in which the pianist moves ahead, stating large middle- and low-register chords as a melody, settling it in D minor and waiting for the band to fill in the pieces before expanding the textural palette to include his own sense of rhythm and a folk song melody in his solo. Breathtaking. The only dud is Frisell's skronk piece, "After Dark," which would have been fine for Naked City, but feels completely out of place here.
-> This comment is posted on Allmusic by Thom Jurek, follower of our blog 'O Púbis da Rosa' <-  
Tracklist & Credits :

PAUL BLEY TRIO — The Nearness Of You (1989) FLAC (tracks+.cue), lossless

Recorded in 1989 and issued simultaneously on LP and CD, the digital version features two extra cuts and thus weighs in at about 16 minutes longer than the vinyl. The first question is why an artist of Bley's restlessness and vision would record a batch of tunes like these old nuggets in the first place. Bley's trio on this date is an estimable one: Drummer Billy Hart and bassist Ron McClure join the pianist for eight standards that range from the title track by Hoagy Carmichael to Oscar Pettiford's "Blues in the Closet" to George Shearing's "Lullaby of Birdland." Bley has an interesting way of approaching standards, which is why this hard bop rhythm section is key to the performances here. While he may approach Richard Rodgers' "This Can't Be Love" as a bebop tune with a modal sensibility -- he found the mode inside the tune's architecture -- Bley's sense of phrasing falls out of all the traditional jazz boxes. His bebop style is full of angular spaces and odd half notes and his modal mannerisms suggest tonal maneuvers requiring notes that go by at a clip (16th, even a 32nd in a major seventh chord run!) in counterpoint with McClure. Of course, this is what makes the man one of the bona fide geniuses of the music -- his manner of reworking something so it is something totally different yet still sounds like itself. In a ballad like the title tune, Bley allows Hart plenty of room to explore with his brushes by creating huge spaces in the melody, not merely by syncopation but by extending the chordal reach of the tune itself and allowing the tempo to hover rather than move toward any particular measure or melodic invention (of which there is plenty). Strangely, his reading of the Carmichael number is deeply moving, and played in a manner that suggests Mal Waldron's with a lighter touch and a longer reach for harmonic structures. The trio's performance of "What a Difference a Day Makes" seems rushed at first, as the musicians slip through the melody like a breeze through a screen door -- but it's all smoke and mirrors. Bley is moving the melody around to find room for McClure and Hart to lay back and coast on where he's taking the harmony, which is into a realm that suggests Herbie Nichols and Bill Evans. By the time Bley gets to Shearing's tune and the closer, Billy Strayhorn's "Take the 'A' Train," he's convinced us all once again that there is something new in everything. While the Strayhorn stalwart may be one of the most recorded jazz tunes in history, it has never sounded like this. Before the melody falls like dominoes and like lightning from Bley's right hand, he moves through a series of Monkish augmented chords that make no apparent sense harmonically until the melody jumps right out of them. As McClure and Hart move to double time, Bley triples and they're off and running, floating back and forth between pitches and key changes, even slipping in a bit of Ornette's chromaticism at the break. The other cool thing is that Bley manages to quote, however minutely, from every other tune on the session in his solo! This date is Bley at his most relaxed and amiable, playing with two veterans who not only handle his sudden shifts in mood and color but, more often than not, texture them in advance of what's coming -- dig McClure's hammer-on run near the end of "'A' Train" and, as Bley follows him and opens the scale up, you'll get a stunning example. This is Bley at his level jamming best. If this had been a cutting session, I'd have hated to be the horn player.
-> This comment is posted on Allmusic by Thom Jurek, follower of our blog 'O Púbis da Rosa' <-
Tracklist & Credits :

PAUL BLEY — Solo (1989) FLAC (tracks+.cue), lossless

Tracklist & Credits :

PAUL BLEY WITH STEVE SWALLOW, PETE LAROCA — The Floater Syndrome (1990) FLAC (tracks), lossless

Tracklist & Credits :

PAUL BLEY | JIMMY GIUFFRE | STEVE SWALLOW — The Life Of A Trio : Saturday (1990-2007) RM | Confluences Series | FLAC (tracks+.cue), lossless

 The venerable Sunnyside label has re-released the two Life of a Trio nights -- originally issued in the early '90s on CD by France's Owl label -- that featured the 1989 reunion of the 1961-1962 Jimmy Giuffre 3 of Giuffre on reeds, pianist Paul Bley, and bassist Steve Swallow. The first evening, Saturday, December 16, began with a solo clarinet improvisation by Giuffre, followed by "Black Ivory," a duet between Giuffre and Bley, and then "Owl Eyes," by solo Bley, with the tension heating up as Bley duets with Swallow on "Endless Melody," until they come together all too briefly (5:22) for "Turns." Effortless, spontaneous, adventurous, and even moving, this trio released three of the most provocative -- and all but ignored -- recordings in '60s jazz: Fusion and Thesis for Verve in 1961 and the undisputed radical classic Free Fall for Columbia in 1962. Live performances from the period have appeared on Hat and ECM. As the trio plays together -- with Swallow on his electric bass -- on "Turns," time seems to be stripped away, and the microtonal and pointillistic investigations in collective improvisation embarked upon nearly three decades previously are as current as the next breath. And indeed they are, as there were no rehearsals, no extra or alternate takes, nothing but the music as it happened. There are only two other trio pieces (the others in two parts each) on Saturday night; the other pieces making up the set are solos by Bley, Swallow, and Giuffre on soprano. No matter. What comes out is an investigation of sound from the inside out, textually, tonally, spatially. Extraordinary.
-> This comment is posted on Allmusic by Thom Jurek, follower of our blog 'O Púbis da Rosa' <-
Tracklist & Credits :

PAUL BLEY | JIMMY GIUFFRE | STEVE SWALLOW — The Life Of A Trio : Sunday (1990-2007) RM | Confluences Series | FLAC (tracks+.cue), lossless

The second night of the 1989 reunion in New York of the 1961-1962 Jimmy Giuffre 3 with pianist Paul Bley and (now electric) bassist Steve Swallow in some ways eclipses the first. The fact that there is more integration between the trio members as a whole than on the first evening is certainly one place to start. At the very beginning, "Sensing" -- with Giuffre on soprano and Bley playing bass notes in the lowest register as Swallow enters and takes over the role and Bley moves to the middle -- is a stunner, though it is only four minutes and 13 seconds long. The breadth of the players seems to have come back to them as a unit with these live, as-they-happened, no-second-take performances. There are six full performances here -- and oddly enough the most satisfying of them is a composed piece by Carla Bley entitled "Where Were We?" -- instead of three from the previous evening. Giuffre is more comfortable on the soprano here, and the duos are quite literally amazing. Bley has a pair of piano solos, Giuffre has one clarinet solo, and the rest are duos made up of either bass and piano, clarinet and bass, soprano and piano, soprano and bass, etc. The joy of music-making and the inherent lyricism in these pieces reflect not only a sense of familiarity with the dialogue and improvisational feel of each player, but the true desire to communicate from inside the sound being explored to the listener as well. There may have been a few more viscerally exciting performances by vanguard jazz trios during 1989, but few of them that revealed -- via the strength of restraint -- what tonality, dissonance, and harmony can achieve when what is explored is music for its own sake. Highly recommended.
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Tracklist & Credits :

PAUL BLEY — Indian Summer (1991) FLAC (tracks+.cue), lossless

Tracklist & Credits :

PAUL BLEY — Bebopbebopbebopbebop (1990) FLAC (image+.cue), lossless

 A surprising album from Bley, long considered an outside player with little, if any, affinity for straight bop. He shatters that myth on this set, going through a dozen songs, including such anthems as "Ornithology" and "The Theme," with vigor, harmonic distinction, and rhythmic edge. He's brilliantly backed by bassist Bob Cranshaw, providing some of his best, least detached playing in quite a while, and drummer Keith Copeland, navigating the tricky changes with grace. Ron Wynn   Tracklist & Credits 

PAUL BLEY — Blues For Red (1991) WV (image+.cue), lossless

More straight-ahead than many Paul Bley outings, the 14 solo piano vignettes comprising this set reflect the versatility of this wide-ranging performer. There is an emphasis on the blues, and the pianist proves himself a formidable champion of that genre. Fans of Bley's traditional aesthetic should also find something here to admire, as he covers a wide range of styles. While everything is well played, there is a sense of ordinariness on some of the tracks. Nonetheless, Bley is too good a performer not to throw some gems in the pack, and there are flashes of his patented use of space and an occasional energetic cluster. While this is not an album that would serve well as an introduction to this wonderful performer, it will prove particularly rewarding to those who are familiar with the pianist's work and wish to observe some different facets of his playing. Steve Loewy   Tracklist & Credits :

JON BALLANTYNE | PAUL BLEY — A Musing (1991) FLAC (tracks+.cue), lossless

Ballantyne is a bright new Canadian piano star. He gets a good sound from the instrument and plays just as much or as little as he needs to get his point across. Nowhere is this better illustrated than on Question, an exploration that discovers all of the melody's most telling points. On Alternative Vision and Polka Dots he takes a more aggressive stance as befits an amiable piano and drum duel. It is the former that shows off his chops but it is the latter that demonstrates his natural way with a tune.
The duets are beautifully stage-managed. Neither player tries to showboat, the interaction is subtle but there is no loss of creative intent or rhythmic virility. Both men are listeners and they approach each task in their own individual manner. Zacotic finds them at their most reflective. If You Like has some fine treble jousting, while Viattya comes over as if a modern blues march by a single player. Ballantyne is a pianist to watch - and hear. Justin Time    Tracklist & Credits :