John Abercrombie Duo
The Wooster School
Feb. 9, 2001

Sometimes when two musicians meet, their personalities and musical communications meld in such a way that the friendship lasts a lifetime. John Abercrombie and Andy LaVerne met about 35 years ago as students at the Berklee College of Music. Both have gone on to find separate success, but the jazz guitar and piano duo always finds time to express their musical language together. Last Friday (Feb 9) as part of the Wooster School Jazz Society's monthly jazz nights, Abercrombie and LaVerne transformed the Schwartz Reception Center at the Wooster School in Danbury, Conn., into an intimate jazz club.

Set before a vibrant paper quilt, created by Wooster School third graders, two guitars waited on their stands by a gleaming black baby grand piano. In a duo setting, the obvious obstacle is the absence of a rhythm section. The two musicians must possess tremendous trust for each other, have the ability to switch roles with ease, and interfere with one another's groove. Abercrombie and LaVerne embraced the freedom of playing in a duo and possessed a natural ability for the form. Reconvening after over two years apart, with only the night before to re-familiarize their acquaintance, the two friends easily fell into rhythm with each other and created some beautiful music peppered with Abercrombie's humorous quips.

The duo opened the set with the standard "How Deep is the Ocean," a piece both players were obviously comfortable with, like a bedtime story told many times before. Displaying his comfort with the material, Abercrombie took off his glasses, cradled his guitar up close to his heart, scrunched up his face, and sang the notes quietly to himself. He traveled fluidly up and down the neck of his hollow body guitar. The musicians switched roles easily; taking the lead, LaVerne created lush sounds with a rapid ascent up the scale.

Touching on forms from post-bop to fusion, the duo continued to charm the audience with familiar standards. "I Hear A Rhapsody" was recorded by another guitar/piano duo almost forty years ago. That duo was Bill Evans and Jim Hall, who inspired Abercrombie and LaVerne to play together back in the 1960s when they discovered their mutual admiration for them.

With Evans' "Turn Out the Stars," one of Abercrombie and LaVerne's favorite, they expressed the pure simple beauty of a guitar/piano duo. LaVerne's eloquent piano voicings and Abercrombie's ability to play bass lines on his guitar resulted in a chilling symmetry.

Abercrombie and LaVerne played several of their own compositions including "Dream Team," written by LaVerne and recorded on their 1996 live album, Where We Were. The duo continued with three more LaVerne originals. Driven by a piano intro,

"Alone Together" displayed LaVerne's ability to cull various sounds from his instrument and meld them together harmoniously, while Abercrombie's graceful comping added elegance.

Abercrombie switched guitars for the nostalgic, lyrical melody of LaVerne's new song "Shania."

"All these things I have to do just to play," he joked. "Change guitars, put on my glasses. I didn't have to do this years ago. I had one guitar and I could see everything."

Both musicians conveyed strong emotion as they traveled far with "Shania," but they always returned to one familiar, beautiful phrase.

Abercrombie introduced one of his new songs, still untitled. The tune recalled a smooth summer sail on a vast peaceful sea. LaVerne's deep, full-bodied chords set a foundation for Abercrombie's constant roll of notes. The audience of about seventy local jazz enthusiasts listened with quiet appreciation. Many of them, surrounding colorful, calico-covered tables, closed their eyes and let the music take over.

With "A Nice Idea," an Abercrombie waltz, the guitar player devoured the neck of his instrument, sentiment seemed to drip from his fingers. The strong sound created reverberating layers of emotion and the audience was positively moved.

For their final song, Abercrombie and LaVerne played, "Softly As In a Morning Sunrise," an old familiar standard that they recorded on Where We Were. "We started in C Minor and we're ending in C Minor," said Abercrombie. "This one actually changes to B Minor. It wasn't written that way, but we don't care."

Celeste Sunderland