Slam Productions, 3 Thesiger Rd, Abingdon, OX14 2DX.

Purchase at: Jazz Loft

I really enjoy duos partly, I think, because of the intimacy of two voices sharing and developing ideas. I especially enjoy duos involving sax/clarinet and piano and having heard George Haslam in particularly exciting settings before I looked forward to this. Happily, I can report that it was no disappointment.

The date of the recording of track one was 22nd November and so it is dedicated to Saint Cecilia, patron saint of music. I think she’d have appreciated the combination of breathy clarinet and sometimes dense, sometimes spare voice of the piano. A spacious, meditative duet that reminded me of the human qualities of certain acoustic instruments. There is an attractive shape to the piece as it unfolds to produce a weave of sounds spanning a range of moods and ending with a calm togetherness.

The baritone sax which opens the second track has a tough, grainy quality that contrasts well with the shimmerings of the piano. The gruff, agile sounds project a powerful voice alongside the sometimes fractured counterpoint of the keyboard. Sounds swell and ebb creating intense layers of sound. The track’s title is Woongarra an Aboriginal word meaning ‘to search out’ and that is borne out as each player explores the territory mapped out by the improvisation. Along with more turbulent voicings there are some delicate textures produced by using wind chimes and investigations within the piano’s interior.

The title track takes its name from a village in Cornwall and is dedicated to the Cornish painter John Piper whose work appears on the cd cover. It continues some of the mood of the previous track using muted sounds from inside the piano, letting them hang in the air, before both players become more strident. It is a piece of contrasts, creating strong rhythms and reflective passages and can be seen as a response to the art of Piper and the landscape he works with. At one point Haslam’s voice hovers over dark chords, yearning and swooping but always with absolute precision and control. A masterful piece of improvised music.

They tackle Goodbye Pork Pie Hat with a certain amount of reverence for both the composer and dedicatee and it is pleasing to hear the baritone lingering over the poignant melody and reminding us that no matter many times we’ve heard it we can still be moved by it. This short track, 5 minutes long, restrained and elegiac, is as near perfect a reading as any I’ve come across. It is also the only track which isn’t improvised.

The longest piece is Solstice Dances/Hymn and was recorded around the time of the winter solstice. It is the climax of the cd and a celebration, not just of winter fires but of each other’s playing and the tremendous vitality they generate. There are some superb passages where their voices are as totally integrated as it is possible to be and the resulting music is full of warmth, energy and imagination. They do take solo space of course but the overall feeling is one of togetherness. It is absorbing and inspired and brings me back to the sharing and intimacy I mentioned at the start. It invites the listener in too.

To wind up the proceedings Haslam produces the tarogato for Inside Job, a track which ostensibly sounds like a solo to begin with but also makes use of the piano interior. Haslam unleashes billowing lines which resonate over wood and strings creating fugitive nuances. It’s not entirely solo as Leigh Harris joins him with brittle, percussive effects and the piece ends without resolution but with a feeling that more would be welcome from this duo. I look forward to that.

--Paul Donnelly--