Search - Kenny Wheeler :: Where Do We Go from Here?

Intimate Duets

Stephen A. Smith | Boston, MA | 05/11/2005

(5 out of 5 stars)

"This program is a series of thoughtful conversations between Kenny Wheeler and John Taylor. If you're looking for boogie-woogie piano or bebop lines, look elsewhere. But if you can handle it, this duo brought their A game.



All but three of the tunes are composed by Wheeler. His style is unmistakable -- the way he flips an interval, or pulls a motive inside-out like it was a mitten. His signature rings clear on every tune he pens. That's the mark of a master composer. There's no one alive who writes for small groups better than Wheeler.



This isn't an electrifying session. There are moments of quiet intensity, but nothing approaching fireworks. The tempos are moderate at best, and often rubato. The pace is consistent. The good news, if you're serious about listening, is that the level of performance never drops. Wheeler and Taylor engage each other on every tune.



Toward the end, there are a few instances of unfortunate overdubbing by Wheeler. It's never a good idea. Jazz musicians practice and exist in spontaneity. That's where we're comfortable. Overdubbing requires a different sensibility, one which we would have to cultivate in order to ply convincingly. Besides -- you'd never catch a film director trying to create group chatter by overdubbing a single actor's voice. Multiple voices playing counterpoint in identical timbres...? It's not appealing. It's confusing.



I can't recommend this CD for everyone. This is intense music, and how much you enjoy it will depend on how much you put into it. I wouldn't buy it for an Oscar Peterson fan. And it's not quite the homerun Wheeler scored with "What Now." But if you're a fan, there's plenty here to keep you listening."

Shhh.... Quiet Beauty Spoken Here

Brian Whistler | Forestville, CA United States | 11/06/2007

(5 out of 5 stars)

"This duo CD predominantly features Wheeler's ruminative compositions with a few Taylor tunes thrown in for good measure. There are plenty of ballads and a high quotient of tunes in three, but there are few players who can swing with such intensity over such down tempo material.There is some high level interactivity going on here. God can these two men listen!



If you've listened to the What Now CD, you'll be right at home here. In fact, there's even one tune off of that wonderful recording, (One Two Three,) that gets an intimate duo treatment.



This is smoky late night music,the kind that evokes images of reflected light off of a wet city street at 3 am, the kind that goes well with a single candle burning while drifting off after making love. But lest the reader think this is music to lull the senses, be forewarned-this level of intelligent composition and improvisation stands up well under the scrutiny of the fully caffeinated morning analytical mind-it is music for dreaming yes, but also music to build great architectural pyamids of thought to beneath a veneer of gentle wonder.



A five star recording and a perfect companion to the stellar "What Now? Where Do We go from Here? Where indeed...?"