Rachel Eckroth & John Hadfield, featuring Petros Klampanis: Olhos de Gato

Rachel Eckroth and John Hadfield were in Greece to record Speaking In Tongues (Adhyâropa Records, 2025). The freewheeling piano-drum duo found themselves with an extra day in Athens after finishing the recording, so they decided to enlist bassist Petros Klampanis for another little session, just for fun. No expectations, just a bit of free improvisation.

At one point, they pulled out Carla Bley's "Olhos de Gato" (aka "Sad Song"). The piece is deep and beautiful, in the kind of idiosyncratic way you might expect of Bley.  The modest 32-bar form breaks into two identical 16-measure sections with a 4-measure tail on the second. A tango-like rhythmic feel invites you to dance, if you are so inclined.

This sensitive trio brings out, to perfection, the extraordinary specificity of Bley's harmonies and the subtle but pungent emotions they evoke. Melodic phrases turn without resolving, and heartbeat inner voices tear fleetingly at one another over a bass pedal that is achingly slow to yield.

Liberated from the stasis of the pedal, Kampanis' bass blooms during his solo, illuminating the solemn poignance of the melody by situating it in his robust lower register. And Eckroth stretches at the tensions of the harmony during hers, reaching in and pulling at them before subsiding back into the melody as the piece concludes with its simple minor cadence. Throughout, Hadfield stirs quiet turbulence, cymbals hissing softly, peppering the soundscape with hard knocks, wood-on-metal, forceful but distant-sounding, almost ominous.

Eckroth and Hadfield decided to release "Olhos de Gato" as a stand-alone single in commemoration of the anniversary of Bley's death (October 17). Their nuanced performance offers listeners much to savor and remember.

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