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Steve Kuhn Steve Swallow: Two by 2
Kuhn's opening "Gentle Thoughts" immediately achieves a limpid beauty, a vaguely Oriental theme that suggests light shimmering on water, while his "Two by Two" manages to reanimate traditional blues lines with sheer good spirits and just the lightest touch of ironic bluster. A triptych of Swallow compositions follows, with Kuhn buoyantly exuberant on "Remember," before the composer supplies the most guitar-like of electric bass solos, providing a slightly dissonant counterfoil to Kuhn's ebullience. Some of the best bop composersTadd Dameron, Herbie Nicholsseem to underpin "Wrong Together," a somber theme with a sprightly undercurrent that testifies to Swallow's ability to construct compound moods with subtle harmonic suggestion. There's more of the same in his familiar "Eiderdown," a fine performance of a genuinely memorable tune.
Kuhn's "Lullaby" returns the two to the quiescent grace of the opening with Swallow achieving a glassy, resonant sound. There's a kind of Latin melodrama to Swallow's "Ladies in Mercedes," Kuhn's bright, soaring lines and Swallow's resilient underpinnings summarizing the duo's strengthan ability to develop complex harmonic dialogue with grace and wit. Latin elements are even more pronounced in Kuhn's passionate "Deep Tango" and the brisk frolic of his "Mr. Calypso Kuhn." Kuhn's spoken-word performance of his "Poem for #15" recalls Swallow's deft settings of poems by Robert Creeley and focuses the recording's emotional intensity, suggesting how often this is music about something. In all, it's a superior performance by two masters of micro-ensemble intimacy.
Track Listing
Gentle Thoughts; Two by Two; Remember/Wrong Together; Eiderdown; Lullaby; Ladies in Mercedes; Deep Tango; Poem for # 15; Mr. Calypso Kuhn; Emmanuel.
Personnel
Steve Kuhn
pianoSteve Kuhn: piano; Steve Swallow: electric bass.
Album information
Title: Two by 2 | Year Released: 2008 | Record Label: Sunnyside Records
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Two by 2