Sacks/Opsvik/Maneri/Motian: Two Miles A Day

Ideas are seeds of invention and when progressive artists Eivind Opsvik (bass) and Jacob Sacks (piano) pondered how cool it would be to perform with master drummer Paul Motian, the idea for Two Miles A Day was planted. Violinist Mat Maneri was added to this fertile ground, and the result is a recording representing music that cerebral, inquisitive, and uninhibited by conventionality.

Though the material was written by either Opsvik or Sacks, this is a complete group effort. The quartet exchanges acoustic ideas that are rife with expectancy, taking things into freer territories covering many shapes and contours, all of which are interesting examples of modern composition.

Intricately balanced, like performers on a tightrope, each musician pulls and pushes the limits of their instruments and each other. The throbbing bass-line of "Ha!" supports Maneri and Sacks' eccentric solos. On the atmospheric "As We Know It," the brooding bowed strings of Opsvik and Maneri along with Sacks' delicate ivory touches are carried by the gentle taps of Motian's drums. Or take the free swinging "Playing With Blocks," cooked under a controlled, heated groove. And that's just the first three cuts.

If there was any question about the "old man's" abilities, Motian confounds them. Performing masterfully, adding splashes of color—delicately, forcefully, precisely with perfect touch—as heard in his unique playing on the Thelonious Monk-ish tune "Funny Shoes." The younger members also have something to say. Their abilities are clearly imaginative, filled with empathy on the bucolic "Twelve Days" and the expansiveness of "Savile Row," a stylish free form piece that sings as Sacks and Opsvik swing joyfully with Motian.

Some ideas never reach fruition or seldom work out as planned. This one did and here's hoping more turn out like Two Miles A Day.