"One and one don’t make two. One and one make
one," said Pete Townshend. He may as well have been
talking about Blaise Siwula (alto and soprano
saxophones) and Adam Lane (contrabass), whose
instruments intertwine on this intimate, entirely improvised set where the saxes pop
to keep time and the bass growls disconsolately in a
role reversal of sound.
Siwula and Lane go on some relatively long
walks, but they rarely move faster than a jog, often
grounded by melody or slowing down to find a
common rhythm. The disc begins with "Opal," where
Lane is a steady idle beneath Siwula’s revving and
sputtering engine. On "Tandem Rivers," Siwula plays
short staccato bursts before he lays out and Lane’s
understated bass turns reflective, setting the tone for
Siwula’s melancholy reentry. Siwula plays dry,
vibratoless soprano on "Crystal Radio," and Lane’s
arco bass imitates the soprano in the upper register. As
the tune progresses, some vibrato creeps back into
Siwula’s horn and he’s playing the Dixieland blues of
Sidney Bechet, shockingly lyrical in this context.
Tandem Rivers is a disc where melodies bubble to
the surface and evaporate just as quickly, where the
tunes organically transform from abstract sound into
second-line struts. "Night," the duo’s longest sonic
tour, best illustrates their chameleon-like ability for
mimicry. Performing more like a team of bass ‘n’ drum
rather than bass ‘n’ horn, Siwula’s alto is percussive
before it evolves into a source of warm, inviting
musicality, and Lane’s bowed strings imitate the alto’s
melancholy sound. "Night" defines the duo’s artistic
approach. The track’s last two minutes conclude with
resonant unity, as both alto and bass imply musical
saws in perfect whiny two-part harmony.
The improvisational discourse is full of clever
choices, wit and a variety of moods. Siwula and Lane
command attention with subtlety and nuance.
This review originally appeared in the July 2003 issue of
All About Jazz - New York.
~ Jeff Stockton
