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Instrumental Duos

Courtesy Karl Ackermann
The New Orleans bands were supplanted by the "hot" quintets, sextets, and septets. Swing ensembles then dominated through the 1930s up to the bebop movement. Duo breakouts existed within the performances early on, but duo recordings were a rarity. Through Bruce Raeburn, Curator Emeritus at Hogan Archive of New Orleans Music and New Orleans Jazz, I learned that cornetist Joe King Oliver and pianist

Jelly Roll Morton
piano1890 - 1941

Oscar Peterson
piano1925 - 2007

Ray Brown
bass, acoustic1926 - 2002

Harry "Sweets" Edison
trumpet1915 - 1999

Roy Eldridge
trumpet1911 - 1989

Duke Ellington
piano1899 - 1974

Jimmy Blanton
bass, acoustic1918 - 1942
Full-album duo recordings featuring a vocalist are ubiquitous but instrumental entries didn't take off prior to the

Bill Evans
piano1929 - 1980

Jim Hall
guitar1930 - 2013

John Coltrane
saxophone1926 - 1967

Rashied Ali
drums1935 - 2009

Joe Chambers
drumsb.1942

Larry Young
organ, Hammond B31940 - 1978

George Coleman
saxophone, tenorb.1935

Tommy Flanagan
piano1930 - 2001

Hank Jones
piano1918 - 2010

Max Roach
drums1925 - 2007

Anthony Braxton
woodwindsb.1945


Binker and Moses
band / ensemble / orchestraEscape The Flames
Gearbox Records
2020
It's easy to imagine Escape The Flames as Interstellar Space half a century forward. Tenor saxophonist

Binker Golding
saxophone, tenor
Moses Boyd
drums
Binker Golding
saxophone, tenor
Moses Boyd
drums

Milford Graves
drums1940 - 2021

Bill Laswell
bassb.1955
The Stone (Back In No Time)
M.O.D. Technologies
2014
The late drummer/percussionist

Milford Graves
drums1940 - 2021

Bill Laswell
bassb.1955

Peter Brötzmann
woodwinds1941 - 2023

John Zorn
saxophone, altob.1953

Don Pullen
piano1941 - 1995

Andrew Cyrille
drumsb.1939

David Murray
saxophone, tenorb.1955
Milford Graves: drums and percussion; Bill Laswell bass.


Charlie Haden
bass, acoustic1937 - 2014

Hampton Hawes
piano1928 - 1977
As Long as There's Music
Artists House
1978
Two of the most recognizable architects in creative music, Haden and Hawes could plumb the depths of emotional expression. Both ascended serious challenges and had strong ties to gospel and blues traditions. They expressed redemption in musical terms that were personal and frequently moving. As Long as There's Music is often poetic but has its freer moments as well. Two of the pieces are from

Ornette Coleman
saxophone, alto1930 - 2015
Charlie Haden: bass; Hampton Hawes: piano.


Pat Metheny
guitarb.1954

Lyle Mays
keyboards1953 - 2020
As Falls Wichita, So Falls Wichita Falls
ECM
1981
Metheny and collaborator Lyle Mays stepped away from the quartet format for this inspiring collaboration. At more than twenty minutes, the atmospheric, mysterious title track is an overdubbed standout that ebbs and flows, occasionally wandering but finally holding together. The

Bill Evans
piano1929 - 1980
Pat Metheny: electric guitar, acoustic guitars, bass; Lyle Mays: piano, synthesizer, organ, autoharp; Nana Vasconcelos: berimbau, percussion, drums, vocal (5).


Bobby Kapp
drumsb.1942

Matthew Shipp
pianob.1960
Cactus
Northern-Spy Records
2016
After a productive period in the 1960s, drummer Bobby Kapp revived his career at the start of the millennium. Among his later projects was The Fine Wine Trio with pianist
Richard Wyands
pianob.1928

Gene Perla
bassb.1940

Archie Shepp
saxophone, tenorb.1937

Noah Howard
saxophone, alto1943 - 2010
Shipp is a force of nature whose readily identifiable style has made him one of the most notable and recognizable pianists, improvisers, and composers. The two teamed up as half of Kapp's quartet on the excellent (and under-recognized) Themes 4 Transmutation (Self-Produced, 2014) and have now moved on to this outstanding duo outing, Cactus.
The nine-track set opens with "Overture" and finds Shipp taking the time to explore the antecedents and consequences of each facet of the piece. As he does so, Kapp shifts position frequently, sometimes in accord, often in contrast, and eventually utilizing the entire kit to make his distinctive statement. The bluesy motif of "Before" is more organized at the outset but moves into freer territory towards its conclusion. Kapp provides an extended and thundering introduction to "During" before Shipp heads down a path moving from abstraction to lyricism. A standout piece is "Money"; again, featuring a long opening solo from Kapp, this time both complex and nuanced. Shipp's playing here is energetic and expressive, his angular approach softened but not completely exenterated.
Bobby Kapp: drums; Matthew Shipp: piano.


Donat Fisch
saxophoneChristian Wolfarth
drumsb.1960
Circle & Line 2
Leo Records
2010
Drummer Christian Wolfarth and saxophonist

Donat Fisch
saxophone
Anthony Braxton
woodwindsb.1945

Max Roach
drums1925 - 2007
Wolfarth utilizes every part of the drum kit but doesn't attempt to throw the whole lot into any of the nine tracks. On "Merlodie," he brushes the cymbals to create an ambient background countering Fisch's blues-influenced lines. "Maria's Blues" is dominated by tom-toms creating a subtle Afro-Latin background that at first contrasts Fisch's long lines before the two seem to absorb each other's sound. Wolfarth supplies a staccato beat from the snare or concentrates on the rim at various points. The collective effect is a diversity of sound responsible for maintaining a high level of interest throughout the set.
Christian Wolfarth: drums; Donat Fisch: tenor and alto saxophones.


Maciej Fortuna
trumpetTropy
Fortuna Music
2014
The American perspective of Polish jazz is principally defined by trumpeter

Tomasz Stańko
trumpet1942 - 2018

Michal Urbaniak
violin
Krzysztof Komeda
piano1931 - 1969

Marcin Wasilewski
pianob.1975

Adam Makowicz
pianob.1940
The duo of trumpeter Maciej Fortuna and pianist Krzysztof Dys perform original music in an open avant-garde setting with plenty of white space and classical influences. Warm and sensual in approach, there is a sense of mystery mixed with marginal quirkiness that creates a unique atmosphere throughout Tropy. In Fortuna's playing, there are shades of

Rob Mazurek
trumpetb.1965

Nate Wooley
trumpetb.1974

Mal Waldron
piano1925 - 2002

Keith Jarrett
pianob.1945
Tropy breaks new ground without vehement outbreaks of dissonance; it's far more complicated than interspersing uncontained energy with serenity as though those radical shifts were safe-havens. Instead, Fortuna and Dys have given us a concept of inquisitive beauty; melodic boundaries are left jagged and indefinite. The only sanctuary is in the odd comfort that permeates this collection like a pure organic expression of communication.
Maciej Fortuna: trumpet; Krzysztof Dys: piano.


Kit Downes
keyboardsb.1986
Tomas Challenger
saxophone, tenorb.1983
Wedding Music
Loop Records
2013
The multiple-award-winning pianist Kit Downes and the versatile saxophonist Tomas Challenger distinguish one of the most notable releases in Wedding Music. This alliance of these critically praised U.K.'s Loop Collective members has produced a superb and unique collection of duets for church organ and tenor sax. While organ and saxophone duos are a rarity even in the realm of the B-3, Downes and Challenger take it to an altogether different level in this setting.
In recording at Huddersfield University's St Paul's Church, the distinctive space becomes part of the music, creating an acoustic environment where the reverberation and reflection of sound is distinctive in comparison to a studio or stage venue. And then there is the pipe organ with its wind-drivenand somewhat ominousaural properties, multiple timbres, and various instrumental effects. Downes seems to have a karmic ability to coax the cumbersome apparatus to produce an orchestra-like array of sounds while maintaining a harmonious balance. At times, the sound of the organ is indiscernible from that of the saxophone.
Challenger has demonstrated his resourcefulness to adapt to styles that range from the classically influenced but genre-defying Heritage Orchestra to the improvisational Spy Boy (Babel, 2013). On Wedding Music, he plays long John Coltrane-like lines presenting layers and changing tones while adding spellbinding and reflective qualities to the pieces. Challenger is not verbose even when he reaches for the occasional emotional crescendo. Within his abstract explorations, he is capable of creating a rich and exotic atmosphere without aberrant augmentations.
"Shos" opens the program and sets the stage for all of the pieces on Wedding Music in that it is both hypnotic and ever-shifting. Downes begins "Optics" minimally, and Challenger ethereally floats in, the two musicians imparting a slightly spooky quality to the music. The rapidly pulsing vibrations that Downes gets out of the organ in the opening of "Cooks" are like a subdued pneumatic jackhammer performing a drum roll. If that implies noise, it doesn't play out that way. Like everything that is improvised on Wedding Music, there is a melodic core. Illustrating the diversity of pieces in this collection, the title track's opening is reminiscent of the classic Yes work "Close to the Edge" before it veers off to the more otherworldly setting that feels like home-base for this collection.
Kit Downes: organ; Tom Challenger: saxophone.


Vijay Iyer
pianob.1971

Wadada Leo Smith
trumpetb.1941
A Cosmic Rhythm With Each Stroke
ECM Records
2016
In the liner notes for A Cosmic Rhythm With Each Stroke, pianist Vijay Iyer notes that he and trumpeter Wadada Leo Smith would often become a sub-segment of the quartet in which the two played. Following their collaboration in New York City in 2015, ECM chief Manfred Eicher brought the two master artists together to make their unique chemistry a matter of record. At its core, the album is a suite dedicated to the late, influential Indian artist Nasreen Mohamedi known for her drawings and photography.
The opening piece, the meditative "Passage," features some of Smith's most expressive playing, with Iyer's augmented chords enriching and expanding the space. The seven-part suiteeach movement prefixed by the album titlebegins with "All Becomes Alive"; Smith's trumpet soaring and diving to the backdrop of Iyer's electronic drone. Further on, Iyer switches to the piano as he and Smith set into a beautifully soulful groove, an angular turn or two, and a quiet exit. "The Empty Mind Receives" is more conversational with Smith's long phrases countered by Iyer raining down notes. Conveying just what its title suggests, "Labyrinths" is overtly more complex and knottier, while "A Divine Courage" begins with barely audible thumping electronics followed by quiet distances between the sparse trumpet and piano contributions. Eventually, Iyer provides a bass line, resetting the piece to a solid melody. More experimental are "Uncut Emeralds" and "A Cold Fire," with a heavier reliance on electronics on the first and atonality on the latter. The album concludes with a moving tribute to the musician/civil rights activist "Marian Anderson."
Wadada Leo Smith: trumpet; Vijay Iyer: piano, Fender Rhodes, electronics.


Bob Gluck
pianob.1955

Tani Tabbal
drumsAt This Time: Duets
Ictus Records
2017
Bob Gluck is joined by drummer Tani Tabbal whose resume is extraordinary. While still a teenager Tabbal was playing with the

Sun Ra
piano1914 - 1993

Roscoe Mitchell
saxophoneb.1940

Anthony Braxton
woodwindsb.1945

Oliver Lake
saxophoneb.1942

Muhal Richard Abrams
piano1930 - 2017

Henry Threadgill
woodwindsb.1944

Geri Allen
piano1957 - 2017

Evan Parker
saxophone, sopranob.1944

Dewey Redman
saxophone, tenorb.1931
The Styne/Cahn standard, "I Fall in Love Too Easily," opens At This Time: Duets in the form of a pleasing Gluck piano solo, his only solo on the recording. A second version of the song is a duet, with Tabbal's light touch taking it from reflective to a bit more triumphant. The Gluck/Tabbal rendition breaks down into fragmented melodies, abstractions, and odd meters, driven by Tabbal's sharp-edged propulsion. "El pueblo Unido jamas sera vencido (The People United Will Never Be Defeated)" is another composition presented in two versions. Written by the Chilean leftist activist Sergio Ortega, the piece was one of several anthems the composer wrote around that political movement. The first version takes a mournful tone, and the second, while it begins in the same vein, takes on a more defiant quality as it progresses.
Four of the nine tracks on At This Time: Duets are co-written by Gluck and Tabbal. "Resolve" and "Persistence" are electronic and drum pieces, both with an organic and spacey feel to them. Tabbal masterfully executes with a touch that blends with Gluck's electronics in a way that makes the two parts a whole sound. At This Time: Duets highlights both cagy and unconventional interplay and subtle atmospherics, and like everything in Gluck's catalog, it is as intriguing as it is listenable.
Bob Gluck: piano, electronics; Tani Tabbal: drums.


Pauline Oliveros
accordion1932 - 2016

Connie Crothers
piano1941 - 2016
Live At the Stone
Important Records
2016
Connie Crothers and Pauline Oliveros both passed away in 2016. Crothers was an accomplished composer, improviser, and pianist; she was not nearly as well-known as she should have been for someone whose talent attracted musical partnerships with

Max Roach
drums1925 - 2007

Lennie Tristano
piano1919 - 1978
Pauline Oliveros could be a doppelganger for Crothers if one were to add bellows to the keyboard. An accordionist from early childhood, she was also a pioneer in electronic music and had released several recordings where the output was focused solely on electronics. Only later in her five-decade career did she work to a greater extent with her first instrument of choice. Even more outside the mainstream than Crothers, Oliveros nevertheless influenced a wide range of avant-garde composers, including John Cage and Terry Riley; she performed with

Roscoe Mitchell
saxophoneb.1940

Susie Ibarra
percussionb.1970
Live At the Stone was recorded in 2014 during Crothers' residency at that not-for-profit performance space in the East Village of NYC. It was the only time that Oliveros and Crothers had ever performed together. Captured on this album is a forty-minute extended composition/improvisation titled "First Meeting Still Sounding." Crothers' style of playing is edgy and melodic, and she effortlessly moves from complex, percussive assertion to lyrical passages. Oliveros is subdued with electronics and a bit of wordless vocalizing to augment her accordion. More often than not, the effect is drone-like and nicely compliments Crothers' more sharply defined playing.
Live At the Stone is a fitting tribute to Crothers' many-layered qualities and the extended format allows her the room to move around freely. The pairing with Oliveros provides an intriguing showcase for harmonics and harmonies and plays nicely into Crothers' philosophy that composition and improvisation need not be mutually exclusive.
Pauline Oliveros: accordion, electronic effects, voice; Connie Crothers: piano.


Adam Berenson
synthesizerFatidic Dreams
Self Produced
2018
Fatidic Dreams brings together two musicians whose influences and experiences are as diverse a set of conditions as one could imagine. Philadelphia-area pianist/keyboardist/electronic composer Adam Berenson was a student of

Paul Bley
piano1932 - 2016

Van Morrison
vocalsb.1945

Jerry Garcia
guitar, electric
Etta James
vocals1938 - 2012
"Fatidic" is a Latin word that means "prophetic," and with dreams as a window to prophesy, the tracks are designated "Dream 1" through "Dream 13." Berenson's previous duo album Penumbra (Dream Play Records, 2017), with bassist
Scott Barnum
bassBerenson's configurations incorporate jazz, electronica, noise, and chamber music, individually or collectively; all the elements produce a living hybrid sound reflecting a single vision. As he closes out the album, he gives much of "Dream 13" to Shaw's percussive effects, a fitting conclusion to a long-time professional partnership and a farewell. Fatidic Dreams is intelligent and thoughtful, consistently rewarding and adventurous.
Adam Berenson: piano, synthesizers; Daoud Shaw: drums, percussion.


Don Byron
clarinetb.1958

Aruán Ortiz
pianob.1973
Random Dances And (A)Tonalities
Intakt Records
2018
This duo outing features clarinetist and saxophonist Don Byron and pianist Aruán Ortiz. The two gifted composers have been playing together, at Ortiz's initial request, since 2014 but in larger ensembles. In late 2017 Byron and Ortiz met in a studio in Zürich, Switzerland, to record this eclectic set that plays to both artists' broad musical sensibilities.
Random Dances And (A)Tonalities presents Byron and Ortiz deeply involved in a succession of fascinating interchanges. Ortiz wrote three of the ten pieces on the album, and Byron, another pair. "Tete's Dream" opens the album and was written for Ortiz's son. The pianist imposes varying degrees of force while Byron, on clarinet, searches in and around the piano's flow. Now on tenor saxophone, Byron adds a touch of klezmer to

Duke Ellington
piano1899 - 1974
Don Byron: clarinet, tenor saxophone; Aruán Ortiz: piano.


Satoko Fujii
pianob.1958

Ramón López
drumsb.1961
Confluence
Libra
2019
Satoko Fujii's duo recordings are among her most interesting projects. Those one-on-one situations bring out creative energy in the improviser that becomes perpetual movement between musicians. The shape-shifting artist has worked this magic with Australian pianist

Alister Spence
pianob.1955

Joe Fonda
bassb.1954

Mark Feldman
violin
Carla Kihlstedt
violin
Natsuki Tamura
trumpetb.1951
Lopez is a member of the National Orchestra du Jazz in France and is active as a free jazz player. His Eleven Drum Songs (Alissa Publishing, 1998) is an ambitious solo percussion collection demonstrating impressive insight and musicianship. Fujii and Lopez exercise constraint on many of these eight improvised pieces. "Asatsuyu," "Winter Sky," and the title track are expressive; Lopez utilizing a light, but involved, touch, complimenting Fujii's sensitive playing. "Road Salt," "Tick Down," and "Quiet Shadow" are less reticent, with more sharp-cornered improvisations and shared examination but still exuding warmth.
Only "Run!" is a full-blown free-jazz excursion, which tells how different this album is compared to much of the Fujii catalog. She has tackled the piano/drum format before, on Erans (Tzadik Records, 2004), with percussionist

Tatsuya Yoshida
drumsSatoko Fujii: piano; Ramon Lopez: drums.


Tyshawn Sorey
drumsb.1980

Marilyn Crispell
pianob.1947
The Adornment of Time
Pi Recordings
2019
Two of music's true geniuses, drummer-percussionist Tyshawn Sorey and pianist Marilyn Crispell, join forces on an extraordinary album. The Adornment of Time is a single-track project running almost sixty-five-minutes. The music was improvised and recorded live at the multi-purpose Greenwich Village club, The Kitchen. Sorey and Crispell are known for their exceptional ability to listen and to empathize with colleagues. These personal traits make this album a benchmark for immediate creativity.
The Adornment of Time with its narrative alternates from tranquil to boisterous to near silence. Crispell's playing is sometimes delicate, other times thunderous. She has the uncanny ability to create palpable tension without sacrificing the music's fluidity; it's a critical factor in an extended work of this nature. With an orchestra-sized drum kit, Sorey has stated that he doesn't have a particular style of playing. That freedom manifests itself in fragile passages with bells and gongs and booming eruptions.
Sorey and Crispell did not have a joint briefing session before the performance, a fact that makes the synchronicity remarkable. As these two innovators often do, they create outside any prominent genre but concentrate on many musical foundations. The audience is spellboundsilent for the entire piece; it's likely many listeners react the same way.
Tyshawn Sorey: drums, percussion; Marilyn Crispell: piano.


Ayman Fanous
guitar
Frances-Marie Uitti
celloNegoum
Mode Records
2019
The very flexible tone systems of the Middle East and Southern Asia have influenced Western music for decades. From John Coltrane to Jimmy Page and George Harrison, those regions' sounds have often successfully fused with the disciplined beat of the West. Egyptian-born, New York-based guitarist and bouzouki player Ayman Fanous and American-born, Paris-based cellist Frances-Marie Uitti bring East and West together on Negoum but not in a predictable manner.
Fanous appears to be most comfortable in the company of string players. He has recorded twice as a co-leader, with cellist

Tomas Ulrich
cellob.1958

Jason Kao Hwang
composer / conductorb.1957

William Parker
bassb.1952

Mark Feldman
violin
Ned Rothenberg
saxophoneb.1956

Mat Maneri
violab.1969

John Cage
composer / conductor1912 - 1992

Elliott Sharp
guitar, electricb.1951

Mark Dresser
bass, acousticb.1952
At more than sixteen minutes, the opening track, "Adhara," occupies a quarter of the album's length. With Fanous playing bouzouki and Uitti alternating between one bow and two, the piece conveys the melodic musical improvisation known as Taqsim in the Arabic-speaking world. Uitti adds elements of drone and Western melody to a frequently shifting soundscape. The duo paints a broad swath across the remaining tracks; Uitti coaxes raw, unnatural sounds from the cello on "Caph"; Fanous augments "Nekkar" with gentle flamenco passages. "Megrez," the other extended piece on Negoum, combines East/West folk rhythms, Western classical, and improvisation in a creative union of influences.
Ayman Fanous: guitar, bouzouki; Frances-Marie Uitti: cello.
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