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David Lyttle & Phil Robson: IN2

By Ian Patterson
March 7, 2023
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The title of drummer

David Lyttle

drums
b.1984

" data-original-title="" title="">David Lyttle and guitarist

" data-original-title="" title="">Phil Robson's debut duo album is as direct and uncluttered as the music contained herein. Equally divided between time-honored standards and stylistically sympathetic originals—three by the Lyttle and one by Robson—the duo's straight-ahead, tradition-grounded language is perhaps a departure from their more genre-fluid work, particularly Lyttle's hip-hop filtered, MOBO-nominated Faces (Lyte Records, 2015), and Robson's wildly eclectic EP Portrait in Extremes (Lyte Records, 2022), which careened entertainingly from ambient soundscapes and straight-ahead elegance to, well, anywhere from

Wayne Krantz

guitar, electric

" data-original-title="" title="">Wayne Krantz-esque excursions to Black Sabbath-inspired doom-rock.

Both musicians, however, are well versed in modern jazz. In a career divided chiefly between London and New York, Robson has worked with

Billy Hart

drums
b.1940

" data-original-title="" title="">Billy Hart,

James Genus

bass
b.1966

" data-original-title="" title="">James Genus,

Phil Woods

saxophone, alto
1931 - 2015

" data-original-title="" title="">Phil Woods,

Kenny Wheeler

flugelhorn
1930 - 2014

" data-original-title="" title="">Kenny Wheeler and

Dave Liebman

saxophone
b.1946

" data-original-title="" title="">Dave Liebman, amongst many other illustrious names. Lyttle announced his arrival in the small groups of renowned Irish guitarist

Louis Stewart

guitar
b.1944

" data-original-title="" title="">Louis Stewart, later going on to play with

Greg Osby

saxophone
b.1960

" data-original-title="" title="">Greg Osby,

Kurt Rosenwinkel

guitar
b.1970

" data-original-title="" title="">Kurt Rosenwinkel,

Joe Lovano

drums
b.1952

" data-original-title="" title="">Joe Lovano and former

Art Blakey

drums
1919 - 1990

" data-original-title="" title="">Art Blakey's Jazz Messengers alumnus,

Jean Toussaint

saxophone
b.1957

" data-original-title="" title="">Jean Toussaint. Some collective history there, to be sure. And could it be that Lyttle and Robson are breaking new ground with the very first, standards-inspired, guitar-meets-drums duo album in jazz history?

Robson plies a seductive, less-is-more attack on Jimmy Van Heusen/Eddie Delange's "Darn That Dream" and Lyttle's own finely wrought ballads, "Lullaby for strange Times" and the beautiful, melancholy-tinged "Septembertime." Even in more animated mode, as on the imaginative arrangement of Johnny Mercer/Harold Arlen's "Out Of This World," where Robson's Yamaha AE1200 bounces from harmonically bright chordal progressions to short, fleet runs �� la

Jim Hall

guitar
1930 - 2013

" data-original-title="" title="">Jim Hall, his economy enables a neat balance between melody and rhythmic pulse. With Lyttle also constantly juggling time and improvisation, it is easy to lose sight of the fact that this is but a duo.

If, in the past, Lyttle was in thrall to Art Blakey, then recent years have seen a broadening of his palette. There is as much a suggestion of

Bill Stewart

drums
b.1966

" data-original-title="" title="">Bill Stewart or

Ari Hoenig

drums
b.1973

" data-original-title="" title="">Ari Hoenig in his playing here. The latter's influence is most keenly felt in Lyttle's melodic stickwork on "I Should Care" and in his hand-drumming on the gently loping "Camels," a delightful original of subtly exotic charms. Brushes, however, are Lyttle's wands of choice for the most part, whipping up a storm or drawing the most delicate of spray- like textures from both skin and metal. And he swings hard when the music dictates, as on Robson's "Astral," which weds finesse and heat, and on the aforementioned standard.

The blend of strong originals and handsomely rendered standards makes for winning material, but it is the intuitive, searching interplay between two perfectly attuned musicians that makes IN2, a quietly groundbreaking album, so rewarding. Drums and guitar? It could be the start of a whole new trend in jazz.

Learn more about our star rating system

Track Listing

Lullaby For Strange Times; Out Of This World; Camels; Darn That Dream; I Should Care; After The Flood; Astral; Septembertime.

Personnel

David Lyttle

drums

Phil Robson

guitar

Album information

Title: IN2 | Year Released: 2023 | Record Label: Lyte Records

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