Gloria Reuben & Marty Ashby: For All We Know

The deeply felt farewell on vocalist Gloria Reuben's Perchance To Dream (MCG Jazz, 2015)—a duo take on "Here's to Life," with guitarist Marty Ashby—foreshadowed the arrival of this intimate date. It may have taken five years for this pair to find their way to this work, but it was destined to happen at some point. This is quite simply a meeting that was written in the stars and the trailing suggestions of its predecessor.

A testament to the power of two, For All We Know finds guitar and voice exploring the odyssey of love unfulfilled, unrequited, unmasked and unavoidable. Neither mired in absolute sadness nor drawn to pure hope, this album prefers to explore intermediate states while linking timeless songs into one seamless quilt. It's a reminder that for all we know, we truly know nothing. The heart, in fact, does the knowing for us.

Opening on "I'll Close My Eyes," Reuben and Ashby use the introduction to bewitch before switching gears and swinging on through. A compact winner that gets its point across in less than three-and-a-half minutes, it lays out the concise approach in all that follows. There's balladic beauty, taking hold with "A Time For Love"; a verse introduction leading to a bossa-esque, moonwashed "Time After Time"; a relaxed take on the title track that speaks to what may be, what might have been, and where it can all lead now; and the ultimate statement of wrestling with love and denial—"I Get Along Without You Very Well."

Furthering the picture of a mind concerned with love's past and future, Reuben and Ashby enter varied states of understanding and transmission. Everything from singer-songwriter Rupert Holmes' 1979 hit "The People That You Never Get To Love," to the heart-wrenching Johnny Mandel/Alan Bergman/Marilyn Bergman-penned "Where Do You Start?," to the 80-year-old "Sing My Heart" by Harold Arlen and Ted Koehler comes into play in the proper light. And this pair has its way with all of them. With keen interpretive skills, good taste and an eye on making creative connections, Gloria Reuben and Marty Ashby illuminate aspects of life and love that plenty can relate to.