Duets (James Carter & Cyrus Chestnut)

a classic of sorts

i don’t remember anymore how i got to this album. i think it was through a blog i followed at the time, but i can’t find it anymore. all i know is it was one of my favorites way back when i was first getting serious about music, or rather getting into serious music, and especially jazz. i was about eighteen.

it’s a series of duets between woodwind wizard James Carter and virtuoso pianist Cyrus Chestnut (what a classic jazz name).

back then i listened to it constantly. i loved it so much that i even included it in the novel i was writing at the time (it was to be my last attempt for fifteen years). in fact, it was mentioned in the first paragraph. the main character is dreaming about James Carter playing his wonderful bass clarinet and wakes up to find it’s rather the screeching of his talentless neighbor’s saxophone practice.

but my interest in jazz, at least acoustic jazz, waned as i entered my twenties, and i forgot about this album entirely until recently, when i began to revisit old favorites and found it in a hard drive. now i remember why i loved it so much.

i have been listening to it and enjoying it all over again for a few months now, but only the other day did i actually look into it. it’s a bit embarrassing i hadn’t done so before. reading now about the history of jazz and the stories of jazz musicians it struck me that the names James Carter and Cyrus Chestnut were never mentioned (and this is a genre of writing with extensive name dropping). i found that curious.

my impression as an uninformed listener had been that the album was a classic from the golden age of jazz. and when i listened to it again after so many years (and a bit less uninformed), that was still my impression.

my favorite at the time and still my favorite now is The Intimacy of My Beautiful Woman’s Eyes, the album’s longest track incidentally. beyond relating to the topic in general, because my woman has such beautiful eyes, the music is intense and moving and lovely, and yet also abstract and adventurous. it would not be out of place in Messiaen’s quartet for the end of time, another favorite. or perhaps better said, it is rather its continuation and expansion.

but really every tune sounds like a standard. there is not a dull moment in it. whether it’s Bruebeckian swinging sweetness (Sentimentalia), or a Wayne Shorter type impressionistic suite (A Rare Gem), or a schizophrenic blues reminiscent of Mingus (Deep Throat Blues), they hit all the right notes and sound like perfect classics, and the album in turn sounds like a classic performance by seasoned legends. it’s hard to believe at times that it’s just two people playing. and even the names of the players and the tracks suggest to me classic material.

so when i looked into it i was surprised, to say the least. for one, except for the opener (by Duke Ellington), the other tracks are all original compositions, and none of them well known, much less standards. but more surprising is that it was recorded in ninety five. sure, the two players are among the greats of their own time, but it’s a time thirty years after the golden age, and they were in their twenties. lastly, and even more surprising, the tracks were recorded in a session for a radio station, and the cd was released only as a promotional item, and with a very small run. so there are very few copies available, but they are still rather cheap because only freaks like me would want them.

it’s so rare that it’s actually hard to find information on it beyond the basics. i didn’t find even a single review of it, nor any interview by the musicians about it. i am waiting for the cd to arrive, but it’s quite likely that it too has very little information. still, the music speaks for itself.

it speaks to me at least. i may very well be the biggest fan of this recording in the whole world. i think that’s funny, if a little unfair for the genius musicians.

oh well, at least for my taste, it’s a classic.