Don Thompson (piano, bass,
vibes); Rob Piltch (guitars).
Topped and tailed by two
new songs, this is an album that was originally recorded and released in Canada
in 1982 and has now been remixed and remastered for re-release. Forty years on
it sounds fresh as new paint, with added interest provided by the various
voices Thompson provides depending on which instrument he is playing on the track.
(In fact, it is the bass/guitar tracks that work best IMHO, especially the
calypso jaunt of Caribe with its
dancing guitar and rich full bodied bass underneath).
Having said that, Thompson is/was a wonderful pianist, a slightly less melancholic Bill Evans, indeed I suspect that the inspiration for this album back in 1981 and 1982 lay in the two Bill Evans/Jim Hall albums Undercurrent and Intermodulation they recorded in the 60s.
A Suite of five pieces takes up most of the second half of the CD
album (it was the second half of the LP as originally released). The first
piece, Kyoto, features a long
roaming, exploratory bass solo with minimal support from Piltch. Piltch steps
forward for Moon Dance all ringing,
celestial, harmonics on the guitar. Red
Dragon Fly evokes the wide open west and the Haden/ Metheny album Beyond the Missouri Sky though, of
course Thompson/ Piltch were here first. Thompson plays beautiful elegant runs
on the piano, casting out streams of notes and Piltch conjures up elliptical
slides and slurs from his guitar. By way of contrast, Nexus, is a free piece of round notes on the vibes and skittering
guitar sounding like it was recorded in a cavern. Thompson stays with the vibes
for Chant as it leads us into the
night and the end of the original album. The new last track, Days Gone By, is led off by Thompson,
firmly in Evans mode before Piltch joins in o contribute a pointillist solo of
single, darting notes. As elsewhere on the album their playing together is
tightly interwoven and intertwined, yet delicate, like lacework. It’s a lovely
album that may not have been very successful on its first release but it
deserves to do well second time around. Dave
Sayer
BANDCAMP (Modica Music)
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