Bill Laurance and Michael League: Keeping Company

Bill Laurance is one of the UK's most inventive pianists. His compositions and arrangements have involved multiple formats, including trios, duos, orchestras and solo piano, but he is best known as a member of the 19-piece jazz-funk-fusion ensemble Snarky Puppy. He joined the band at the invitation of their founder, U.S. multi-instrumentalist Michael League. They have been collaborating for over 20 years.

That long-term musical relationship resulted in their first duo release, Where You Wish You Were (ACT Music), in 2023 (reviewed here). For that album, the duo moved away from the power and scale of Snarky Puppy and established a Mediterranean-influenced stripped-back intimate sound. They go further along that path while exploring similar soundscapes with their second album, Keeping Company. Laurance uses an acoustic piano (prepared with felt) and League an oud (a Middle-Eastern lute-like fretless instrument) and a fretless bass. The album is recorded with a live approach and no unnecessary overdubs and consists of nine joint compositions alongside the Turkish folk song "Iki Keklik Bir Kayada" and "Africa," composed by Rico Rodriguez.

League's oud brings a warm and exotic Mediterranean feel to the melody on the opener, "Katerina." It is over within two minutes, and like many of the tracks here, it is more of a sketch than a final canvas. The oud also features on the atmospheric, slowly-moving "Stonemaker." The repeating motif builds to an improvisation over the brooding rhythms of the piano. "Clay" also has strong initial oud phrases, but League keeps his finest oud work until the intimate final track, the traditional "Iki Keklik Bir Kayada," which has fine interplay with Laurance. League's brief, wordless vocals add depth.

Elsewhere on the album, League switches to fretless bass. This works particularly well on "Yours," as his repeating rhythm builds a groove under Laurance's gentle phrases that develop into a brief cascade near the end. The pulsing and haunting beauty of Laurance's playing is to the fore on "You." League supports with bass and quiet humming. With the duo sharing its bouncing beat, "Africa" is the liveliest track here, with Laurance weaving a path around the melody. The bluesy "Where You Wanna Go" and "How Does It Feel" both feature rhythmic bass supporting Laurance's dark piano motifs and soulful explorations.

With a more restful atmosphere than its predecessor, this contemplative album has multiple cultural influences, with the duo weaving a warm and earthy sound with the focus on intimate and spontaneous interplay. Some of the tunes are compact atmospheric vignettes that can seem like ideas that are not fully developed, but those that are shimmer with rhythmically hypnotic melodies and offer much to enjoy.