This post is by Scott and Dan
Recorded on December 18, 1989
Partners is a reunion for Paul Bley and Gary Peacock, who recorded Paul Bley and Gary Peacock for ECM in 1970. Their first meeting was the third album ever released by ECM. The reunion 19 years later is a much longer album consisting of 15 mostly short pieces including five duets, six solos by Peacock, and four solos by Bley. The first meeting contained only eight tracks and ran about 35 minutes.
Both Bley and Peacock are masters of spare improvisation, so the setting fits them perfectly. Peacock makes the greatest impression with his beautifully recorded bass notes running precisely through seemingly endless ideas. Bley is his usual unpredictable but always interesting self. The longest piece is the duet, "Who's Who Is It?" a boppish tune that runs for 11:37 minutes. While the duets may be assumed to offer the most interest, the solos are just as interesting or more so.
Special mention should be made of the sound. The original session was recorded by David Baker live to digital two-track in New York. Editing was done in Paris and released by Owl in 1990 on CD. In 2001, Universal France released a remastered version. The sound of the remastered version is spectacular - woody piano and bass, vibrating strings, decay, you name it. This session even sounds great as an mp3 stream.
Bley and Peacock collaborated as a duo again on Mindset (Soul Note, 1997).
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