Dennis Mitcheltree and Johannes Wallmann: Holding Space

Tenor saxophonist Dennis Mitcheltree and pianist Johannes Wallmann team up for a full program of enticing music on Holding Space. Encompassing a range of idioms and compositional parameters, the duo charts a lot of territory on the album's eighteen cuts, and it is terrain well worth exploring.

Mitcheltree has been recording since the 1990s, with his debut release, Brooklyn (Dengor Music), released in 1996. He has a warm, ingratiating tone, amply demonstrated on the album's opener, "Annus Mirabilis," as Mitcheltree's winsome lines float over Wallmann's steady, empathetic foundation. "Willis" has a similar feel, again highlighting Mitcheltree's generous sound. Wallmann also brings a lyrical touch to all his playing, especially valuable on a recording which is richly tuneful throughout. With the two musicians sharing the writing credits roughly equally, their mutual vision is evident, and as the two have performed and recorded for several decades, this is not the least bit surprising.

As an added bonus, trumpeter Russ Johnson joins the duo for three cuts. His contributions on "Via Valse" are especially stimulating, as the darkly-textured piece gives Johnson room to develop his thoughts in close conversation with Mitcheltree and Wallmann. "Trio Adagio" has an even more somber edge, and with a deliberate pace lasting almost ten minutes it is the longest track on the album, allowing all three musicians to showcase their intuitive rapport.

The album does have a somewhat peripatetic quality, as the pieces cover a wide range of styles. Several (too)-brief improvised tracks, both solos and duos, are interspersed throughout, and "Sephardic Blues" is a klezmer-inspired track which clocks in at just over a minute. "Blues for Mark" takes things in a noir-inflected direction, giving Mitcheltree's dusky tenor its slinkiest moment on the record, while Wallmann's jaunty piano on "Liberty Hop" has more than a little boogie-woogie in it. And for the album's gospel number, we have "Soul Occupant," a medium-tempo piece with a bit of grit in its infectious rhythmic groove.

While a tighter conceptual focus might have given the album more cohesion, there is no denying the genuine esprit de corps on display here, and there is delight in hearing two fine musicians spend an enjoyable hour in the studio strutting their stuff.