Mike Nock & Dave Liebman
Duologue
(Birdland/Creative Vibes)
Rating: ****1/2
This album was beautifully recorded by the ABC’s Mal Stanley at the 2004 Wangaratta Jazz Festival, and features two grand old masters. Sydney pianist Mike Nock and US soprano saxophonist Dave Liebman have frequently played together, and with others, over a long period. But this session brings the two together in a musical conjunction perfectly capturing the late night feel. Laid back at times, as in the opening to Nock’s Acceptance, then lifting off into wild excited shrieks from the soprano, the flow of ideas always maintains direction, purpose, and spontaneity. On Green Dolphin Street is introduced on piano, its theme cleverly disguised with choppy chords and classical running figures, when the soprano arrives to reveal glimpses of the melody, before soaring into an improvised hyperactivity with piano colluding. Liebman’s tempo-less Nadir begins and ends with solo soprano in an array of astonishing effects: stepping through growls, wails and whistles; executing speedy runs and bending glissandi. Superb artistry.
Note: This review first appeared in The Weekend Australian and is reprinted here with the permission of the writer.
