Customer Reviews

The Willow

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Frank Kimbrough's piano and Joe Locke's vibes mesh together exquisitely in this achingly beautiful musical offering. The interplay -- mostly the two of them but occasionally supplemented by reedman Tim Ries and percussionist Jeff Ballard -- is richly textured and inspired. Kimbrough's and Locke's original compositions are sublime in their range of expression. This is an album you will never hear the same way twice.

. . . suspicious, as I was, of the limited sonorities of an album consisting primarily of two percussive instruments, piano and vibes. Yes, I'd heard the quite remarkable piano/vibes duo of Hutcherson/Tyner (although not one of my favorites, it must be admitted), and yes, Frank Kimbrough is probably my favorite jazz pianist.

But I figured there'd be insufficient tonal variety on a disc like this (indeed, that was my difficulty with the Hutcherson/Tyner outing) for me to put out $15.

I freely admit I was wrong; I should've trusted my growing infatuation with the music of both these remarkable artists (Frank with his regular gig in Medicine Wheel and with his trio recordings, Quickening and Lullabluebye, and Joe Locke with his estimable band Four Walls of Freedom and their two recordings) and snapped this disc up earlier. Well, I didn't. But I've got it now, and I'm entirely glad I do.

As far as the objection of reduced aural soundscape, these two artists are absolute masters of coloration, so that one kinda fades into the background. Besides, they're joined on about half the cuts by two artists of the very first rank, Jeff Ballard, long-time Kimbrough colleague, on percussion, and Tim Ries, criminally under-recorded and -regarded player, on a variety of wind instruments. Really, you need not concern yourself with sonic boredom or sameness: there's plenty of variety here.

With a clutch of smart, sophisticated, yet approachable tunes, great interaction and soloing, and impeccable production, this disc has seldom left my regular rotation.

Simply wonderful.