Doubling down on bass: Christian McBride and Edgar Meyer: But Who’s Going To Play The Melody?
Editor's Choice
Author: Alyn Shipton
View record and artist detailsRecord and Artist Details
Musicians: |
Edgar Meyer (b) |
Label: |
Mack Avenue |
Magazine Review Date: |
June/2024 |
Media Format: |
CD, LP, DL |
Catalogue Number: |
MAC1155 |
RecordDate: |
Rec. date not stated |
Team up one of the world’s leading classical bassists with his counterpart from the jazz environment, and the results should be interesting. The opening two tracks here, with Meyer plucking neat ostinato bass patterns, with some percussive knocks and slaps, while McBride plays some quite remarkable bowed figures (and a fine pizzicato section in his own ‘Barnyard Disturbance’) seem initially to set a precedent for the rest of the album.
But with two such eminent and resourceful musicians, they are far too experienced and wily to stick to a formula. The finest moment – in complete contrast – is McBride’s beautiful, sensitive bowed version of ‘Bewitched, Bothered and Bewildered’ with Meyer accompanying him at the piano. The tables are turned for ‘Lullaby for a Ladybug’ with McBride at the keys, and Meyer up in cello register for the beautiful arco opening melody, before the tempo picks up and phrases buzz to and fro. The whole album is beautifully recorded with a vivid impression of being in the room with the two bassists, whose joint empathy for their main instrument is perfectly summed up on an absorbing version of ‘Days of Wine and Roses’.
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