Recorded at Vision Festival XIII in 2008, this pairing of French bassist Joëlle Léandre and American trombonist George Lewis brings together two of the most gifted and committed musicians in improvised music. They've been acquainted since the '70s and distinguished themselves as duo improvisers in the best company. (Among their individual highlights are the former's duets with Derek Bailey and Steve Lacy and the latter's with Anthony Braxton and Evan Parker).
The intense commitment with which they attack the format is evident from the opening seconds of the performance, Lewis exploding with rapid-fire, strongly rhythmic phrases and Léandre picking up immediately at the same tempo and in the same chromatic language. The two don't waste time there or elsewhere looking for points of concordance. When the music seeks fresh textures, each evolution is accomplished almost instantly, one player echoing the other's impulse at a rate so fast that it suggests the impulse is collective, the result of a shared reading of the material that has just passed. There's a certain affinity between bass and trombone, a natural propensity towards glissandi and those sliding tones become a natural pool of mobile tonality to which both musicians move, finding community there.
The intense commitment with which they attack the format is evident from the opening seconds of the performance, Lewis exploding with rapid-fire, strongly rhythmic phrases and Léandre picking up immediately at the same tempo and in the same chromatic language. The two don't waste time there or elsewhere looking for points of concordance. When the music seeks fresh textures, each evolution is accomplished almost instantly, one player echoing the other's impulse at a rate so fast that it suggests the impulse is collective, the result of a shared reading of the material that has just passed. There's a certain affinity between bass and trombone, a natural propensity towards glissandi and those sliding tones become a natural pool of mobile tonality to which both musicians move, finding community there. - Stuart Broomer
Tracks
1. Transatlantic Visions I
2. Transatlantic Visions II
3. Transatlantic Visions III
4. Transatlantic Visions IV
5. Transatlantic Visions V
6. Transatlantic VI
7. Transatlantic VII
JOËLLE LÉANDRE double bass
GEORGE LEWIS trombone
Recorded live on 14 June 2008 at Vision Festival XIII in New York
Rogueart - ROG-0020 France