Sylvie Courvoisier/Mary Halvorsen

A sometime showcase for classic jazz players like Bill Evans and Jim Hall or Oscar Peterson and Joe Pass, guitarist Mary Halvorson and keyboardist Sylvie Courvoisier take time from their other projects for a more contemporary demonstration of duo interaction. On this third outing as a duo, the New York guitarist and Swiss native turned Brooklynite pianist use contemporary music add-ons like Halvorson’s pedal collection and Courvoisier’s piano preparations for a contemporary take on dual cooperation, To do so the two also split compositional inspirations down the middle.

With their playing neither as fragile as Evans/Hall chamber impulses, nor as overt as Peterson/Pass’s syncopated grooves, the duo adapts variations of those tropes to inventive ends and adds more surprises. The concluding “Cristellina E Lontano” for instance is the most obvious swing piece that is taken at double time. Courvoisier lays down an undulating cushion of dynamic notes upon which Halvorson’s slurred fingering studs dense tone echoes. In contrast “Beclouded” begins like the soundtrack to a countryside walk, thumps into some parade band repetitions with measured guitar strums licks preserving the rhythm as the pianist lays into the keyboard like a mixture of Cecil Taylor and Meade Lux Lewis.

The most idiosyncratic tracks like “Nags Head Valse” and “Folded Secret” are even more distinctive. Narrative for the first subtly slides from a circus music-like piano pulse that intersects with guitar strums to switch downwards to sounds that could personify a ballerina’s cold pirouette to music box tinkles Meanwhile the exposition of  “Folded Secret” sneaks along, mixing piano string clips and vamps with guitar clangs and buzzes until a brief pivot to romanticism quickly amalgamates into a basic straight-ahead rhythm from both players.

By constantly changing references and rhythms, the tracks on Bone Bells reflect the originality of this duo’s variations and the continued validity of guitar-piano interactions.

–Ken Waxman

Track Listing: 1. Bone Bells 2. Esmeralda 3. Folded Secret 4. Nags Head Valse 5. Beclouded 6. Silly Walk 7. Float Queens 8. Cristellina E Lontano

Personnel: Sylvie Courvoisier (piano) and Mary Halvorson (guitar)