Jazz, like any other musical genre, has its prefered instrumental
combinations, of which the piano trio is arguably its most common one,
followed closely by the two horn quintet or the quartet with saxophone.
Not far behind, however, is the piano duo with saxophone, and in more
ways than one, it can be the most predictable format of them all.
Generally speaking, the horn player leads with the melody, the
keyboardist accompanies through the theme and solo, takes his own
unaccompanied chorus or two, and the horn returns only to restate the
opening line.
But every rule has its share of exceptions, and the following duo
manages to achieve a more equal footing than usual. To their credit,
reedist Ted Levine (alto and soprano saxes, bass clarinet) and Peter
Madsen have chosen to vary their program by focusing on shorter pieces,
with seven of the 13 tracks clocking in at under three minutes and none
of the remainder going over seven. Moreover, they have produced a
concise program of a little over fifty minutes in total length, thereby
avoiding the pitfall of overextending themselves and inducing the
all-too-frequent listener weariness that comes from long, long sides.
They hold the listener’s attention through all their flights of fancy
with a wide array of musical devices at their disposal. Not only can
they play with abandon and total freedom (eight of the pieces were
created on the spot), but they work off themes that can be quirky or
impressionistic (all of those penned by the reedist). A seasoned music
educator with a definitely open mind (one would hope there are more
like him in jazz academe), Levine is just as comfortable playing in and
out. He is first and foremost an alto player, but makes use of his
lighter sounding soprano on four pieces and does remarkably well on
bass clarinet on another four. According to the liner notes he
woodshedded fiercely for three weeks before the recording. The album
certainly isn't groundbreaking, I doubt either of them ever entertained
that notion in the first place, but it is still a fine statement from
two seasoned artists who can bring each other to many places and back,
not to mention a good deal of listeners. Nice work, if you can get it!
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