Album: In Hiding
Artist: Calum Builder & Tate Sheridan
Release Date: 2014
Category: jazz
Label: Independent
It’s pleasing to hear a debut album by two final year students in Canberra – saxophonist Calum Builder and pianist Tate Sheridan – from the ANU School of Music. With funding from Friends of the School, the duo have been composing and recording these original works for the past year resulting in a relaxed-sounding, highly listenable collection.
There’s a floating quality to these pieces; they’re mostly introspective, but always brimful of fresh ideas. The opener My Lord – and longest track at over eight minutes – sets the mood with an alto sax cadenza flowing tranquilly into a rhythmic sequence above a piano riff. A similarly placid atmosphere pervades Piece by Peace where Builder takes up a soprano sax – as he does on two other tracks – to explore a pastoral theme with Sheridan’s thoughtful and sensitive contributions as the performance gathers strength and power.
Amongst a soothing, mostly ethereal collection, Czech Mate is the only piece to espouse a bop theme moving in a vigorous alto and piano combination before an energetic sax solo underpinned by the piano’s running bass line which develops into a fine, swinging solo complete with a stomping stride section. The closer, Stable Change begins with a stately, spacious theme established by the piano which then is joined by the unison alto in a work reminiscent of the music of a religious chorale.
This unusual album of duo performances, by two players who understand each other’s approach perfectly, has a pleasantly sedate quality that will best suit a contemplative listener.