There is something about a bass/piano duet that is special. Nominally part of ‘the rhythm section’ they are usually harnessed to someone galumphing away with bits of wood behind them, but liberated by the absence of the galumpher in chief*, bass and piano can soar, suddenly free to find their own paths through the music, unanchored and liberated. The greatest such duos, IMHO, were those that involved the great Charlie Haden when he matched himself against Kenny Barron and Keith Jarrett on Night and the City and Jasmine respectively, both top ranked recordings that the fates seem to have decided should be played in the evening or early morning when the light and the night strike an uncertain balance. This one follows in that tradition, respecting the size of the boots it has to fill.
The two players have
worked together many a time before and there is a brotherly empathy that sees
them supporting, encouraging and giving space to the other. The opener, Sea More, exemplifies this as, first,
the piano, and later the bass dominate, each pulling the piece along in tune. At times they are in such close step
with each other that separating them is difficult, at other times they take
individual flight or wrap lines around each other. Three Sides Now kicks it up a gear with Milligan taking the lead
and Lyne digging in behind him. A central section sees Milligan heavy on the
chords while the bass dances figures around him. Lyne keeps pushing whilst
Milligan develops some elegant flights of his own. Use Me features some coquettish piano from Milligan, in keeping
with the song’s title. Lyne marches his bass line to the top of the hill and
down again, almost surreptitiously, swinging in the background before he steps
forward to duet with the pianist, each taking it in turns to drop out and pick
up, the bass, especially fleet of foot, dancing elegantly.
The
Bent Peg opens with a rolling bass solo in which Lyne evokes
his adopted Scottish home, (he’s from Canada originally), before equally
evocative, minimalist piano raises images of wide open spaces. It flows
beautifully. By way of contrast Well
Mixed Blue is all slink and devilment in its opening. It’s influenced by Backwards Country Boy Blues from the
Mingus/Ellington Roach album Money Jungle
with, according to Lyne, some Coltrane-esque changes ‘to make it just a bit
more uncomfortable and more challenging.’ You can hear what he means in some of
the angles; whilst not a battle between our two protagonists, at time it does
sound a bit of a scuffle with each pulling the tune into different shapes. Glitch In The Key of Life, Slow To Home and
One Small Thing all, in their own
ways, capture that dimming of the day moment, the first in its wistful elegance,
Slow…. in its embrace of song, swirl
and a great sense of freedom and the latter in the way that the two ride the melody
in unison or pace each other drifting apart and coming back together, dancing as
one or challenging from a greater distance, rising and falling back down;
Milligan’s piano is rich and rounded. Lovely stuff; comparisons with Charlie
Haden and pals are not a million miles off the mark.
Holding
On is
full of mournful longing with the pianist seeming to have to drag the notes
out; the bass barely present behind. Some hope creeps in but before that it is
a paean to loneliness on a windswept beach. There is more of that hope in Catriona’s which feels like a song to
Spring, evolving and uncurling like new life, delicate spare notes growing into
longer runs shadowed by a lively, dancing bass. A brisk bass-led run through Run For Cover, a David Sanborn/ Marcus
Miller piece (Lyne composed all of the other pieces) with Lyne plucking and
knocking his instrument with a couple of sixties RnB lines thrown in for good
measure. Closer, Dinner In Berlin, threatens
to take us home in the gloom. Spare chords on the piano are supported by
distant, jabbing bass. It’s a cold war Berlin we’re in, with a nod towards the
sleaze and uncertainty of Cabaret and
The Third Man visiting from Vienna.
Marvellous album and a
definite grower, quite seductive in its shared intimacy.
Dave
Sayer
*Apologies to all of
those marvellous drummers such as Jack DeJohnette, Asif Sirkis and many others
who have never galumphed in their lives.
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