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!