Joëlle Léandre / Vinicius Cajado: Storm Dance

Now 73, French bassist Joëlle Léandre is a consummate improviser allying unrivaled facility to boundless imagination. In a massive discography of over 250 entries, she has especially favored the duo format. Within that, there is a prominent strand of encounters with other bassists, including all the premier exponents of the instrument. To that tally on Storm Dance she now adds the young Brazilian bassist Vinicius Ciccone Cajado, who has been making waves in Europe, including a bravura appearance at the 2023 Berlin Jazz Festival with saxophonist Zoh Amba, captured in his European base of Vienna in December 2022.

While solo or even twin double bass albums may not appeal to everyone, prospective listeners should note that in these hands, the instrumentation betokens no limitations, given the participants' creativity and technique. While "First Dance" is a dazzling example of flowing bow work, thereafter the pair settles into more contrasting positions: pizzicato vs. arco, high vs. low, lyric vs. abstract. However, such dichotomies are only the most basic simplification. In reality, there is a constant migration between modes, from Cajado in particular, which bewitches and astounds.

Comprising five pieces and an encore, one is aware of two distinct personalities in action, listening and responding quicker than thought. Léandre demonstrates an authoritative tone, ecstatic and incantatory phrasing, and an unconstrained outlook partial to theatricality and humor. This last manifests in a vocal layer added atop the seething, bristling sawing of "Third Dance," and in the fragmentary commentary with which she closes the twanging thicket of "Fifth Dance." While Cajado often takes a more experimental approach, co-opting rubbing and tickling textures, he nonetheless proves an agreeable match on the extemporized melodicism interwoven through the final "Sixth Dance."

While there may be a limited audience for such ventures, the amalgam of drama, audacity and surprise will be catnip for those with open ears.

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