Yaron Herman is a very gifted jazz pianist. Perhaps he is too gifted, because on his own albums he always seems to be pushing in several directions at once which makes it very difficult to discern the musical inner man. Paradoxically, when playing under the direction of a leader with a strong musical personality, his playing assumes sharp focus, concentrating on the needs of the music and the emotional climate of the composition at hand. It's then he appears a world-beater. The piano in duo with drums has a spotty history in jazz. At the hands of Cecil Taylor and Tony Oxley it is something to behold, so too Australian jazz legend Mike Nock with Laurenz Pike, but then the list dissolves into a series of well-intentioned collaborations you never get around to listening to again. Herman and Ravitz have their moments, but their collaboration does not entirely succeed. Both players are looking over their shoulders for something that isn't there – a bassist. It is as if we are solemnly and seriously taken up a number of blind alleys that for a while appear interesting before bumping into a dead end.