Elisabeth Harnik / Zlatko Kaučič: One Foot In The Air

Most jazz lovers will likely remember an occasion when the musicians played as if their lives depended on it to an almost empty room. Judging from the applause, the audience on 14 June 2022 at Kulturhalle Eggersdorf in Austria was not the biggest, but those present were lucky enough to witness a veritable feast of improvised music. Doing the honors were Austrian pianist Elisabeth Harnik and Slovenian percussionist Zlatko Kaućić. Although a respected composer Harnik is also a fearless improviser, as heavyweight encounters with the likes of Ken Vandermark, Dave Rempis, Steve Swell and Joëlle Léandre attest.

While Kaučič has a pedigree in post-bop settings, including collaborations with illustrious visitors to his homeland such as Steve Lacy, Paul Bley, Chico Freeman and Kenny Wheeler, he has become more adventurous still as the years have passed. Later additions to his discography include risk-taking excursions with high profile artists like Daniele D'Agaro on Disorder At The Border Plays Ornette (NotTwo, 2016); Barry Guy on Without Borders (Fundacija Sluchaj, 2017) and Evan Parker and Agusti Fernandez on Diversity (Not Two, 2019).

Kaučič combines the tone color play of a Tony Oxley or Paul Lovens with a twinkle-eyed humor which never gets in the way of serious intent. As the liner photo of the drummer, lying beneath the piano with his titular limb raised, makes clear, there is a visual element to his playing too, albeit one which is lost on disc. If in Val Wilmer's epigram Cecil Taylor played 88 tuned drums, then Harnik possesses all those but has found a few supplementary devices to boot. She utilizes every part of the piano as a potential sound source, with various preparations extending her palette further still.

In doing so, her percussive approach offers the perfect foil to Kaučič who thrives on unconventional textures—rattles, reverberations, crackles, rustles—extracted from a kit that extends to homemade objects. But it is the palpable sense of dialogue between them that makes this such an engaging listening experience. It is as if they are playing a game of sonic chess where one move draws a considered, crafty, but ultimately unpredictable response. However, here of course the aim is synergy rather than ultimate victory, and everyone wins.

And that they achieve in splendid style. From crashing avalanche to the merest shimmer, from passages of dazzling virtuosity to primitive tapping, this is a treat.