Raw Materials
Sad to say, these things (piano/sax duos) often don't work. One thinks of, e.g., the famous Shorter/Hancock flop, 1 + 1; or, again, the Lovano/Rubalcaba disappointment, Flying Colors. The first is too cerebral, the second too meanderingly boppish.
Not here. It probably helps that these two guys have been playing together for more than a decade, and that when they were first introduced by Steve Coleman they immediately connected and began making remarkable music together. There are several previous discs documenting their telepathy (Black Water, Mother Tongue, Blood Sutra, and Reimagining), but this one situates them at the apex of modern jazz players.
I am frankly astounded at how both listenable and edgy this disc is. I expected the edginess, but not the listenability. This disc fairly reeks of hugely accessible, beautifully melodic modern jazz, often set within a kind of neo-East Indian aesthetic. Really, tune after tune exudes music of the absolute highest caliber.
The whole disc is remarkable, but highlights include "The Shape of Things," a balladic number that brilliantly sets the tone for the rest of the proceedings with its oriental modal feel, "All the Names," a kind of kaleidoscopic number with a very attractive Iyer vamp and some righteous Mahanthappa blowing, "Remembrance," a hugely evocative ballad, "Frontlash," with its angular grace, "Come Back," a plaintive call for reconciliation, one supposes, "Fly Higher," bursting with fresh and searching sensibilities, "Common Ground," a kind of instrumental plea for understanding across seemingly uncrossable abysses, "Rataplan," a frankly anthemic declamation, and "Hope," a yearning, plaintive ballad of grand and glorious feeling.
With Raw Materials, Iyer and Mahanthappa have accomplished the near impossible: they've made music of both intense feeling and cutting-edge brilliance, all within the confines of the rather severely limiting piano/sax duo.
Check it out to experience the heights of modern jazz.
Raw Materials
Sad to say, these things (piano/sax duos) often don't work. One thinks of, e.g., the famous Shorter/Hancock flop, 1 + 1; or, again, the Lovano/Rubalcaba disappointment, Flying Colors. The first is too cerebral, the second too meanderingly boppish.
Not here. It probably helps that these two guys have been playing together for more than a decade, and that when they were first introduced by Steve Coleman they immediately connected and began making remarkable music together. There are several previous discs documenting their telepathy (Black Water, Mother Tongue, Blood Sutra, and Reimagining), but this one situates them at the apex of modern jazz players.
I am frankly astounded at how both listenable and edgy this disc is. I expected the edginess, but not the listenability. This disc fairly reeks of hugely accessible, beautifully melodic modern jazz, often set within a kind of neo-East Indian aesthetic. Really, tune after tune exudes music of the absolute highest caliber.
The whole disc is remarkable, but highlights include "The Shape of Things," a balladic number that brilliantly sets the tone for the rest of the proceedings with its oriental modal feel, "All the Names," a kind of kaleidoscopic number with a very attractive Iyer vamp and some righteous Mahanthappa blowing, "Remembrance," a hugely evocative ballad, "Frontlash," with its angular grace, "Come Back," a plaintive call for reconciliation, one supposes, "Fly Higher," bursting with fresh and searching sensibilities, "Common Ground," a kind of instrumental plea for understanding across seemingly uncrossable abysses, "Rataplan," a frankly anthemic declamation, and "Hope," a yearning, plaintive ballad of grand and glorious feeling.
With Raw Materials, Iyer and Mahanthappa have accomplished the near impossible: they've made music of both intense feeling and cutting-edge brilliance, all within the confines of the rather severely limiting piano/sax duo.
Check it out to experience the heights of modern jazz.