| A CD release performance is about musicians playing rather than working. You get the freshness of the interactions while the players are listening to each other and listening to the audience, to draw from their responses. This makes the live performance just different enough from the CD to make it memorable. You could see how the on-the-spot interactions this night modulated the vigour of Murley’s playing in Cole Porter’s “Anything Goes”, when this dynamic duo got perfectly into the same groove.
Following up on a collaboration that began in 1999, and that produced the Juno nominated Duologue Vol. 1, composer/guitarist Occhipinti and composer/saxophonist Murley have played into shape five original compositions—two by Murley and three by Occhipinti, four jazz standards, and one arrangement of a traditional Irish melody. One of Mike’s tunes, entitled, “Sheep Walking” is loosely based on the chords of Nacio Brown and Gus Kahn’s 1945 tune “You Stepped Out of a Dream”. It took a while for everyone to get the joke. With Mike soloing on alto and David comping, you could taste how much fun they had doing unison runs and mirroring climbing progressions.
Generally, David’s tunes, some based on unusual tunings, one borrowed from Joni Mitchell, are compositional. They introduce odd time signatures ("Fifth Season" is in 7/8, "Heart and Mind is in 5/8), and are unsupported by familiar themes. Mike often works off classic tunes, which makes the listening a bit more accessible. My favourite tune on Duologue Vol. 1 is “The Heather on the Hill” from Brigadoon. On Volume 2, the Irish traditional melody “Johnny’s Gone for a Soldier” holds the status of instant heart wringer.
The Live Music Report will give this beautiful record a separate in-depth review shortly. Meanwhile, we are going to begin hoping there will be a Duologue Vol. 3.
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