American saxophone master Joshua Redman and his pianist compatriot Brad Mehldau are long-time collaborators, but this compilation of originals and standards recorded live in Europe in 2011 is their first duo album. They’re improvisationally inseparable on Charlie Parker’s Ornithology, as Redman’s tenor traces the shape of the tune while Mehldau capriciously deconstructs the harmony and rhythms. Thelonious Monk’s In Walked Bud coolly massages a jazz theme famous enough to be mostly implied. A 16-minute The Nearness of You highlights Mehldau’s harmonic adventurousness and features a tour-de-force unaccompanied break from Redman. And the chimingly catchy Mehldau rocker Old West brings out the best of Redman’s terse, rhythmically astute lyricism on soprano, and the composer’s ability to stray into the distance and find his way home by roundabout routes. Always lyrical, the music nonetheless sometimes sounds at the edge of a precipice – it’s improv in the most exposed of situations. The pair play at the EFG London jazz festival on 12 November.
