Alexander Hawkins and Tomeka Reid - Shards and Constellations (Intakt, 2020)
Pianist Alexander Hawkins and cellist
Tomeka Reid bring a rich history into their duet session, with each
musician well versed in jazz, classical and freely improvised music.
This makes for a surprisingly varied and intricate program of music,
with each musician making the most of their instrument. Half of the
performances on this album were developed completely through
improvisation, employing differing measures of hue and texture in
real time to create fascinating off the dome structures. Reid is a
joy to hear bowing long hypnotic tones or short bursts of sound while
also plucking her instrument to provide bass or guitar like
accompaniment. She gained much of her experience after moving to
Chicago and joining the AACM, so it is no surprise to hear two tracks
by Association legends Muhal Richard Abrams and Leroy Jenkins secure
pride of place on this album. Hawkins is an excellent pianist, adept
at creating languid impressionistic soundscapes as well as diving
into freely improvised sections and providing ample support for some
of Reid's more daring flights. His development was something of a
mirror image of Reid's receiving his post-graduate education so to
speak playing with European avant jazz masters like Evan Parker, Jon
Surman and Han Bennink. Together, Reid and Hawkins are able to
conjure some delightful moods that range from a lilting, near
spiritual ballad to more experimental fare that sees both musicians
stretching themselves from mirrors within mirrors levels of
abstraction to fast paced duo chase sections. Though they come from
different scenes it is the pull of jazz and the lure of improvisation
that pulls these two musicians together. Together they are able to
create a very good album, one with a sense of adventure that looks
beyond boundaries and heeds the call of exploration. Shards and Constellations - amazon.com
