Home » Jazz Articles » Album Review » Russ Lossing / John Hebert: Line Up
Russ Lossing / John Hebert: Line Up
Line Up is one of the most compelling inquiries into the piano/bass duet context in recent years. In the liner notes, a great deal of attention is paid to what is perhaps the most notable predecessor, the duets between Duke Ellington and bassist Jimmy Blanton, who is widely credited to have introduced the bass as a solo voice in jazz. The long shadow cast by this precedent is felt throughout the record, no matter how far removed the duo's statements may be from that initial inspiration.
The work presented here is often based on spontaneous musical interaction rather than composition, though both artists do present their own pieces here, as well as one each by Irving Berlin and the aforementioned Ellington. In all cases, the freedom and expressionism with which both approach the composed material enables a seamless juxtaposition of the written and improvised works. The music puts abstraction in the fore, with ideas colliding throughout the record. This is a very modernist agenda with the express intention of conveying the artists' very personal relationships with many of their predecessors, while simultaneously offering their own contribution.
Track Listing
Monotype; Fais Do-Do; Blind Pig; Type A; Hitchcock; Line Up; All Alone; Hamburg; Stick The Landing; For A.H.; Type O; Cross Circuits; Whirlygig; Pitter Panther Patter.
Personnel
Russ Lossing
pianoJohn Hébert
bassRuss Lossing: piano; John Hebert: double-bass.
Album information
Title: Line Up | Year Released: 2008 | Record Label: Hat Hut Records
< Previous
History, Mystery
Comments
Tags
Russ Lossing / John Hebert
CD/LP/Track Review
Russ Lossing
Wilbur MacKenzie
Hatology
United States
New York
New York City
Line Up