Improvising duets between a pianist and a guitarist can result in mutual stepping on toes. One of the most famous such collaborations in jazz, the 1960s encounters between pianist Bill Evans and guitarist Jim Hall, avoided the pitfalls to reach an expressive fragility, thanks to the romantic introspectiveness of both players.
Brad Mehldau and Pat Metheny, however, have done something quite different here. Eight of these 10 tracks are duets, and two are powerful quartet performances (involving Mehldau's drummer and bassist, Jeff Ballard and Larry Grenadier). Metheny's arching long notes and lyricism dominate the luxuriously winding Summer's Day, while the quartet piece Ring of Life has a punchy, hip-hoppish heat and flares of incandescent Mehldau improvising. The misty Find Me in Your Dreams comes closest to the Bill Evans/Jim Hall feel, and Bachelors III, with its recurring chordal vamp, is like Wes Montgomery or Pat Martino jamming on It Ain't Necessarily So. A Mehldau quartet that included Metheny would be a treat on this evidence, but much of their duo relationship sounds very promising.
