REVIEWS OF LET'S CALL THIS
" a beautifully understated and elegant
disc".
Ivan Hewett, Daily Telegraph jazz
CD of the week
"...Laubrock's long-lined fluency
and Noble's rhythmic bumpiness make an irresistable Alone
Together...Ellington's Angelica has laidback Latin bounce.
Lee Konitz's Subconscious-Lee gets a fizzing visit, and
the six originals are pretty compelling, too. "
John Fordham (The Guardian)
Daring, high-wire
saxophone juju flashes throughout the album, but much of
the time Laubrock and Noble focus on extended harmonic and
rhythmic explorations of the tunes. There are six modern
jazz standards (two by Monk, one each by Mingus, Ellington,
Konitz and Dietz/Schwartz) and six originals. Most of the
standards last around seven minutes, the originals around
three. Polar Bear drummer and leader Sebastian Rochford
adds subtle electronic modifications to four of the originals
(the trippy, treble-register, piano mutations on “Spells”
are especially effective). ...Though not without some characteristically
dark and edgy corners (...) the album is an exhilaratingly
playful and celebratory affair. Laubrock and Noble have
worked together often enough to feel at ease in each other's
company—but not so often as to lose a heightened sense
of adventure.
26/08/2006 Chris May / allaboutjazz.com
A duo album with a few (remix) contributions
from Sebastian Rochford, this refreshingly spontaneous recording
mixes Monk material (a slowly coalescing 'We See', a spikily
eccentric visit to the title-track), the odd standard (a
fluent, strikingly original 'Alone Together') and a few
modern-jazz classics (Mingus's beautifully sonorous 'Duke
Ellington's Sound of Love', Lee Konitz's slippery 'Subconscious-Lee')
with improvised duets given extra textural variety by Rochford.
Ingrid Laubrock's soprano sound ranges naturally from sweetly
piping to harshly abrasive as required, and pianist Liam
Noble is pungently thoughtful throughout, but it is the
subtlety of their rhythmic interplay that captures the attention
and holds it.
This album may not contain the impish freewheeling interplay
that characterises many duos, but its concentration on tonal
shading and delicate rhythmic displacement, and its exploration
of what might be termed the hinterland between freedom and
structure, render it deeply satisfying.
25/07/2006 Chris Parker
