QUEEN MAB - CLOSE (DUOS AND SOLOS) (CD)

"They [Lerner & Freedman] have a remarkable symbiosis, with Lerner's quite elegant lines sometimes giving this disc the sound of what it might have been like if Eric Dolphy had ever played with Cecil Taylor. Lerner's powerful phrasing also seems to owe something to Stravinsky. Of the huests, vocalist Fides Krucker makes the most lsting impression with sometimes caterwauling, sometimes cooing lines recalling Lauren Newton, Maggie Nichols, and Julie Tippets. This is at times a forbidding disc, but it is ultimately quite spectacularly rewarding: Lerner and Freedman never repeat themselves, never lapse into cliches, and always keep the listener reveling in the sounds of surprise." (label info) Jack Vorvis, drums, Fides Krucker, voice, Tiina Kiik, accordion, Lee Pui Ming, piano, Victor Bateman, bass.