Ingrid Laubrock / Tom Rainey: Brink

Could there be a more intimate sound than that of Brink? The saxophone/drums recording by reedist Ingrid Laubrock and percussionist Tom Rainey is as personal as it gets between two working jazz improvisers. The reason may be that Laubrock and Rainey are not just partners in music, but also life partners. Rainey is one of the most in-demand drummers working today. He can be heard in bands led by Ivo Perelman, Tim Berne, Tony Malaby, and Fay Victor. He also leads his ensembles, Tom Rainey Obbligato, and trio, both of which include Laubrock's saxophone. Likewise, Laubrock can be heard in ensemble led by Mary Halvorson, Nate Wooley, Kris Davis, and Anthony Braxton. She leads her own orchestra, octet, septet, a sextet, Anti-House; a quintet Ubatuba; and duos with everyone from Argentinian electronics artist Cecilia Lopez to Japanese pianist Aki Takase.

These partners were first captured as a duet with And Other Desert Towns (Relative Pitch, 2014), followed by Buoyancy (Relative Pitch, 2016), and Utter (Relative Pitch, 2018). The real precursors to Brink though were the Stir Crazy Episodes (2020), the pair's self-released recordings during the COVID-19 pandemic lockdowns.

This disc is made up of seven tracks, four composed by Laubrock, three improvised, and in-between, six one-minute-in-length "Brink" intervals, some composed others improvised, which act as a kind of palate cleanser. The absence of noisy loud passages evidences the intimacy referred to in the opening. Rainey favors brushes over sticks for the most part, and Laubrock likes a compact sound. She works the edges of her saxophones on "Flock Of Conclusions" "Liquified Columns," and "Brink VI" by gently and in sotto voce overblowing. Her delivery can sound like birdsong: "Coaxing;" or she can parody a baby's cry "Brink II" and "Brink V." For both Laubrock and Rainey, breath is a driving vehicle of this session. The saxophone can morph into flute-like sounds—"Brink III" and "Brink IV"—and Rainey's attack resembles a long-relaxed exhale. He barely touches cymbals with his brushes to put the finishing touches on this fine drawing.