The two giants, who each failed to make their 60th birthday, apparently first met in January 1999 when Niels-Henning was asked to make an Ellington-themed duo album (as a giveaway bonus from Bang & Olufsen and never sold commercially). He chose as his partner Miller, whom he had previously only ever heard, and the results were sufficiently successful that several live dates followed, of which this North Sea Jazz Festival gig is a previously unissued example. The 95 minutes of music includes five tunes (out of nine) that are hoary old Ellington standards and yet – along with ‘Autumn Leaves’, ‘Whisper Not’ and a couple of Jerome Kern's -these long performances are anything but boring. To be sure, there's a bit of flaunting of the chops here and there, but musicality is the end result, with Pedersen's range and intonation superbly balanced by Miller's fluency and imagination. Some moments from the pianist flirt excitingly with polytonality, although the groove is ever-present, even at slow tempos. It's a rare pleasure, especially posthumously, to hear these masters at such length.