Culled from recordings of over half a century ago, this 2 disc set features intimate, flexible and soulful duets between vocalist Jeanne Lee and pianist Ran Blake. The music is intuitive but rooted in tradition, as Blake’s piano features rich strides, creative spaces and searching improvisations. There are a handful of Blake alone at the piano, in a whimsical mood for “Honeysuckle Rose” and creating tensile trinkles for “God’s Image” while his own “Smoke After Smoke” gives dashes of Thelonious Monk. Lee gets a chance on her own as well, palpably intimate on “Billie’s Blues.”
Lee gets poetic behind Blakes’ thick chords on “Misterioso” and dreamh for “Out of This World” with a delicate “Moonlight in Vermont” sparkling like a clear night. Some clever covers include a full fisted “Mr. Tambourine Man” and saloon oriented “A Hard Days Night” and two takes of “Caravan” show a wide palate of colors. Bohemian sonatas.