Fujii / Melford

Under the Water

Label: Libra Country: Japan

"Touted as an avant keyboard summit, two prominent artistes perform in duo and solo settings on this limited edition album, culled from pianists Myra Melford and Satoko Fujii's Maybeck Recital Hall concert. Based on five water-themed improvisations, the musicians present a rather challenging format that is partly devised on piano string plucking and scraping maneuvers in concert with probing rhythmic passages.

The duo launches the festivities with the piece titled "Yadokari," and features gobs of counterpoint amid Far Eastern modalities, and moments of quietude. But the pianists proceed to terrorize the eighty-eights via swirling currents and melodic intervals. No doubt, it's a comprehensive and highly strung musical expedition.

Whether performing solo or in unison, Melford and Fujii loom as masters' of invention via massive chord clusters, and dainty delicacies. In effect, the solo excursions offer a vivid contrast in styles and applications. And the duo piece "The Migration Of Fish," is steeped within off-kilter harmonic movements, where the pianists execute cascading chord clusters and frantic undercurrents.

Melford's solo jaunt "Be Melting Snow," is a rapidly flowing free-form improvisation that conjures up notions of an action-packed thriller, constructed upon numerous angles and diversions. Hence, the musicians generate an exhilarating sequence of events, as they convey remarkable synergy and intuitiveness throughout the sum of the intricately moving parts."-Glenn Astarita, JazzReview.com

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