Customer Reviews

Oracle

5 star:		(2)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

I am a huge Gary Peacock fan. I believe he is one of the most versatile bassists on the scene today, and his work in all types of ensembles shows remarkable musicality and adaptability. That said, this is actually my personal favorite Peacock recording to date. His compositions are the best since "Tales of Another" and his melodic phrasing on both his and Towner's compositions leave the listener wanting more to say the least. Towner's performance is equally soulful, and the two musicians play with such unity that the difficulty of playing in a duo of this instrumentation is never brought out in this performance. What really catches the listener is how well Towner's guitar and Peacock's bass blend together, the bended notes and string noise actually seem to add to the greatness of the music, as is only possible in a string duo. Every track is excellent and I wish these two would tour together so I could experience this group in a small recital hall, as I would imagine that type of venue would be best for this ensemble.

This CD is one of 2 that Gary Peacock and Ralph Towner have collarborated on. The other title is mentioned above. These two wrap their sounds around each other's in such a complimentary way that they seem to be blood related. The variety tunes are ublime, soft, mysterious, textural, story-like and reveal themselves in an unstrained way. Lots of space between the notes, it bears lots of repeated listening. I wish they'd keep doing more projects.

Although I was afraid that a bass/guitar duo album by these two might be too ethereal or abstract to be really enjoyable, I was in for a pleasant surprise when I loaded Oracle into the CD player. This is a tuneful CD, full of joy and rife with melody. Covering a variety of styles yet never sounding pointlessly eclectic, the music on Oracle brings joy and pleasure. For those who enjoy acoustic instruments, this is a must-hear recording, for Gary Peacock and Ralph Towner are both masters of nuance, and they seem to bring out the best in each other in this session.