Recordings rarely get more intimate than duo projects, the musical equivalent of one-on-one conversations. Saxophonist Jason Rigby sheds his frequent sideman role here for a rare recording under his own name — ten tracks with drummer Mark Guiliana, whose quartet the saxophonist has been a part of for more than a decade. And bassist Pino Palladino and guitarist Blake Mills follow up their acclaimed 2021 debut Notes With Attachments (New Deal/Impulse!) with another series of spacious musical discussions.
Jason Rigby, Mayhem (Endectomorph/La Reserve)
From the plaintive opening chords of its leadoff track “Siorai” to those on its unaccompanied closer “Finality Transcends,” Rigby keeps listeners guessing on Mayhem. That’s largely because it’s him playing piano; his horn is not heard until two minutes into the opener, halfway through its moody melody, cloaked amid a crackling undercurrent of handheld percussive instruments.
Rigby is credited throughout the album with woodwinds, keyboards and percussion; his co-conspirator Mark Guiliana with drums, cymbals, percussion and keyboards. So the educated guesswork of who’s playing what is practically as much a theme as are Rigby’s compositions and the duo’s improvisations. Most tracks are less than four minutes, wrapped in a ten-song, sub-40-minute package that’s a hybrid of this duo’s expected acoustic explorations, additional instruments and some modern electronics.
Engineer Pete Min factors heavily into the mix, helping to transition “Sevensixfive” between a neoclassical analog synthesizer soundscape and a sax-and-drums duet. On “Fifths,” Min combines the keyboards, saxophone and drums through electronic processing; on the soundtrack-worthy “Terra Firma,” it’s a blend of multiple woodwinds with layered keyboards and percussion.
The two most organic pieces are stark contrasts that appear late. “YEAH BOiii” is a loping, bare-bones, tightrope-walking duet, with Rigby on tenor and Guiliani on drums, in which listeners can hear the two answer each other’s phrases. And “Mark” continues that theme via an accelerated Guiliani intro and sections where the principals perform call-and-response trades. Acoustic, electric or both, the results offer risk-taking mayhem that defies categorization.
Pino Palladino and Blake Mills, That Wasn’t a Dream (New Deal/Impulse!)
That Wasn’t a Dream is less a strict duo project, yet equally difficult to pinpoint stylistically. Both stringed instrumentalists are largely known for their session work with pop artists: Palladino replaced John Entwistle in The Who in 2002 and has recorded with Eric Clapton, Don Henley, Elton John and John Mayer. Mills’s recording, performance and production credits include Joni Mitchell, Bob Dylan and John Legend. Yet like their 2021 release Notes With Attachments, That Wasn’t a Dream purposely colors outside the lines.
The opening “Contour” and closing “That Was a Dream” blend Mills’s acoustic guitar and Palladino’s fretless bass within swaying grooves that are part West African, part New Age. The seven-song, 37-minute album also features sparse, intermittent contributions from saxophonist Sam Gendel, Palladino’s bass-playing son Rocco Palladino and drummer/percussionists Chris Dave, Abe Rounds and Steve Jordan (the late Charlie Watts’s replacement in The Rolling Stones).
Mills’s expertise behind the console lends production value to the album’s midsection. On the strutting “Taka,” the intertwined guitar and bass lines swirl amid drum programming and wood and glass percussion. “What Is Wrong With You?” features Mills playing a fretless baritone sustainer guitar, a customized instrumental prototype he helped luthier Duncan Price develop four years ago, and the results here are a cross between a saxophone and a Mellotron.
The same instrument takes on brass and cello characteristics throughout “Heat Sink,” the album’s 14-minute dreamscape. Consisting of only one chord, multiple guitar layers, minimalist cymbal accents and both Palladinos playing bass, the hypnotic piece recalls guitarist Pat Metheny and keyboardist Lyle Mays’s masterful As Falls Wichita, So Falls Wichita Falls. JT