Some listeners, like this reviewer, may be surprised by this minimalist electro-acoustic outing of trumpeter Axel D�rner, something quite different from what he's done in recent memory with Alexander Von Schlippenbach's group in their work with the music of Thelonious Monk, or with Rudi Mahall and company in the free-jazz setting of the band Die Entt�uschung. But with dozens of varied recordings to his credit, and his background in composition, the German trumpeter can't be pigeon-holed.

Here, with percussionist Mark Sanders, and with the palette afforded via electronics, D�rner stretches out and explores textures in ways that his more acoustic projects have not been conducive to.

In two slowly evolving pieces, Stonecipher I and Stonecipher II, one at just over half an hour and the other at barely 15 minutes, the trumpeter and percussionist build up a story of silences and noise, passion and resignation, a story told via very economic means.

While, judging from the trumpeter's bio and track record, this is D�rner returning to some of his musical roots, Sanders, for his part, seems to be exploring new territory. At home in free jazz, having collaborated with many of the luminaries of this practice, here, in a more abstract, textural, electro-acoustic setting, he explores the sounds of his kit in remarkably fresh ways, delighting the ear in the process. As for the trumpet, along with the familiar buttery brass textures, minute sounds � like air though half-open spinning valves, or lip attacks, and long breath attacks, or simple air flow � become charged with larger-than-life magnitude thanks to amplification and electronic processing. A sympathetic, responsive duo partner, Sanders sensitively harmonises with D�rner's ideas, using his kit with a fertile imagination and ears wide, wide open!