Product Description Azure features beautiful duets by two great improvisers whose compatibility was proven long ago. Gary Peacock and Marilyn Crispell made outstanding music together in Marilyn's trio with the late Paul Motian on ECM albums including Nothing ever was, anyway and Amaryllis - each a modern classic - but their duo project also has an extensive history, until now undocumented on disc. With their shared sense of lyricism, their individual compositional styles and their profound background in free playing, Peacock and Crispell are exceptional musical partners. The album contains pieces written by both Peacock and Crispell, and highly inventive, utterly absorbing piano and bass solos. Highlights range from the sublimely melodic (the Peacock-penned "Lullaby") and lyrically pensive (Crispell's "Goodbye") to the athletically bracing (Crispell's "Patterns") and folksong-like (Peacock's moving "The Lea"). Then there are the duo's freely improvised pieces of astonishing cohesiveness, including "Blue", "Leapfrog" and the entrancing title track, "Azure". That was named by Crispell, coming from "the sense of spaciousness I felt with the music," she says. "The image of an open blue sea or sky came to me."Azure was recorded in upstate New York, home territory for both musicians. Along with their shared geography and longstanding musical ties, Crispell and Peacock have in common a certain life rhythm. "We have a connection via meditation and Buddhism," the pianist points out. "We have even meditated together while on tour."Personnel: Marilyn Crispell (piano), Gary Peacock (double bass) Review 'Most of the items have a clear 'hook' set up by piano or bass, it's only the three bearing a joint credit that build their momentum from non-thematic interplay. But the strength of the players is such that the interplay carries the listener along throughout.' -- Jazzwise, (Brian Priestley), August 2013 * * * *'Crispell was an unruly free-jazz keyboard cyclone for years, but now combines that command in dizzyingly open situations with delicacy and patience; Peacock, a deep-rooted standard-songs player, has a voluminous vocabulary that doesn't desert him at the point when song structures dissolve.' -- The Guardian, (John Fordham), July 12, 2013 * * * *'On this delicate, beautifully poised set, it is a mark of both players' openness and integrity that they don't cleave to any particular style but follow wherever the music takes them - from near-abstract improvisations to lyrical blues - and folk-tinged compositions.' -- The Irish Times, (Cormac Larkin), August 9, 2013 * * * *'Azure challenges the listener with an accessible familiarity or so it seems; but it's above all an album that values the mystery of experience, the seeking and the sought.' -- Marlbank, (Stephen Graham), June 10, 2013 * * * *'The finely honed understanding they show throughout this well programmed - and recorded - album goes way back to their trio work with Paul Motian...the translucent play of free improvisation and compositional logic on the present disc makes it something special.' -- Jazz Journal, (Michael Tucker), October 2013 * * * *'Some tracks may require patient listening but what's immediately clear is the variety of approaches here, from Waltz After David M's lovely old-world charm and Lullaby's thoughtful, dramatic progression to Puppets' more abstract figures and Leapfrog's knotty calls and responses.' --Sunday Herald, (Rob Adams), July 21, 2013
A**T
Superb
This is one of those cd's that you chance upon and it surpasses expectations. I have played it over and over and each time hear different nuances, the interplay between the piano and bass is extraordinary, the two of them were never better. At first listening there doesnt seem to be much variety between the tunes but repeated listenings reveal the subtleties, harmonics and spaces abound. This is not "in your face jazz" it doesnt beat you over the head, it is quiet and beautifully stated by two supremely gifted artists. Thoroughly recommended.
M**W
Azure
Listen to this when you are doing the ironing and there is time to concentrate and no distractions. A quiet, thoughtful moment.
T**2
Resigned but emotional quality music
Like there are a great number of recordings called 'Azure' there must be almost equal number of songs called 'Blue'. Actually, that very song is, to me, the best in this good yet slowly unfolding ECM disc.I divide the performances in this recording into three categories:1) 5 stars: The pieces 'Leapfrog', 'Lullaby' and both the bass and the piano solo represent a highly expressive, imaginative and - more or less - strongly contoured body of work. The two firstly mentioned express just what the name implies, and do it very beautifully, yet the very Garrison-like bass solo and the tastefully modern piano solo consist of very clearly stated emotions, which make them so pleasing to listen to. 'Blue', despite its patchiness, is a most striking and rhythmic (in the context of the general resigned feeling) performance, with Peacock in one place playing highly expressive pedal point figures under Crispells most lively soloing. There is not much of truly fast playing on this disc, but Crispell shows in certain small portions of this piece that she is capable of that, too.2) 4 stars: 'Waltz after David M', 'The Lea' and 'Puppets' are emotional and varied [except the firstly mentioned], and a pleasure to hear. These are also the most melodic pieces of the disc, but not just as interesting as the previously mentioned best five.3) 3 stars: 'Goodbye' and 'Azure' are a bit bland, partly unimaginative, yet still somewhat expressive and [of course] well performed pieces. If this was the standard of this this disc, I wouldn't generally recommend it. Luckily, most of the music here is much better, and makes this record a good buy for many people.EXTRA: The only difficult piece to rate from this recording, 'Patterns', is partly a highly expressive showcase of style and invention, partly a dull finger exercise on the piano. The piece as a whole is still great, the shortcomings forgivable.Conclusion: If you've heard Marilyn Crispell with Anthony Braxton, don't expect that kind of music here. The dissonances and the level of modernity are much lower, but mostly to a pleasing effect. Gary Peacock is the remarkable himself, and plays with _great_ command and style, but without much fast passages. The recording is a body of controlled and carefully restrained energy yet also an expressive piece of work, which demands repeated concentrated listening to open up. Once it does, the result is appealing.
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