Heberer (trumpet and quarter-tone trumpet), best known for his work in the ICP Orchestra, and Kaufmann (piano and prepared piano) had been friends for some 30 years before finally doing a recording together.

It's a warm and intimate affair, Heberer evincing some of the puckish humor that serves him well in ICP, making free use of mutes, buzzing and other waggish sounds while Kaufmann's playing is more sober, often reminding me of the work of pianists like Art Lande or Ran Blake, cozy but self-contained to a degree. Eight of the nine pieces are compositions (five by Heberer, three by Kaufmann), leaving only one improvisation. As a rule, the trumpeter's improvisations are tighter, more concerned with iterated and evolving phrases, while Kaufmann's are a bit more expansive and leisurely. A work like Heberer's "Baumhaus" is a rollicking, motoric number, expertly handled, the pair enlarging the aural space enough that you momentarily forget that it's only two musicians. But overall, the pieces unspool slowly, even haltingly, filling cracks and covering surfaces at their own considered pace. Throughout the disc, Kaufmann's used of preparations is modest, only adding tinges here and there, never overbearing.

If there's something of a jazz feeling here, in many respects it tilts more toward a chamber music ambience, though never dead serious. You have the impression of eavesdropping in on a private conversation, two friends sharing recollections and conjuring up new stories, not epics but small tales that may perhaps carry more meaning for themselves than the general public. It won't knock you out � it has no intentions of doing so, I don't think � but you may well be won over by the good-naturedness of the conversation, the subtleties of the resultant dialogue and the confidences exchanged.