Let It by Pandelis Karayorgis / Nate McBride

09 Mar

Written by Lee Prosser
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This duo plays a piano/bass concerto in thirteen movements. Becoming a continuation of the one before, no one part can really be distinguished from another in terms of process and flow. The familiarity of tune comes through in a very interesting interpretation of Monk’s CRISS-CROSS. The remaining cuts have been authored by the two musicians and Karayorgis, alone, in the last brief piece.

Sometimes the partitioning in recordings is so extreme that the breaking up of the musical ideas becomes too distracting to appreciate the whole. In this CD, however, the way in which the bass plays between the piano’s single notes creates a pervasive tendency which holds the recording together. And the solos by both instruments seem to act as responses to each other. Generally, the agitated and often see-sawing nature of the playing sets a rhythmic pattern that makes the music cohesive and smart. The piano’s single notes often progress into runs of notes. The bass coincides with those runs and stops when the piano stops. The bass also begins when the piano begins or vice versa and the two instruments move along hand in hand like real pals. This is an intimate meeting. A set of variations on the moods found in the vibrations of strings.

Indeed, the first cut tells all. "Taking a Line for a Walk" is how the music is carried throughout. And the walk is subtly adventurous. The two instruments can go only to their limits. But the parameters hold within them a rich substance.