Just So Happens
Gary Peacock is one of the great bassists of jazz, a stellar and flexible accompanist who has worked with such pianists asBill Evans,Paul Bley, andKeith Jarrett, as well as withMiles Davisand tenor saxophonistAlbert Ayler, a giant of the 1960s avant-garde. He's also one of the finest bass soloists, with the unusual combination of a huge, rich sound and guitarlike fluency of line. More than that, Peacock has a gift for melodic improvisation and a genuine expressive capacity; he's a master of bends, slurs, and slides, which give the bass an almost vocal dimension.He's paired here with guitarist Bill Frisell, and the result is sustained musical dialogue between two partners with the keenest listening skills, responsive to one another's every nuance and subtle shift in direction, matching, mirroring, and moving one another's lines along. The program is largely improvised, and there are common interests in both the spontaneous kernel of melody, as on "Through a Skylight," and the pure sonic exploration of "Wapiti Dream," with its squiggles of guitar synth and high-bowed bass. Peacock's "N.O.M.B" is a luminous ballad in which the two pass the melody back and forth, a technique that works just as well on the CD's sole standard, "Good Morning Heartache." The two versions of "Home on the Range," played without irony, show the depth of their sources, while Peacock's solo version of "Red River Valley" seems to resonate as well with the folk motifs he once explored with Albert Ayler. This is superior duet playing, sometimes roaming free, but often etched with incredible care and economy.  With Frisell's very bright guitar sound and Peacock's darker-hued bass, there's an arresting play of light and shadow.--Stuart Broomer