CD of the Week - "Contact: Five on One"

CD of the Week
Contact: "Five on One" (Pirouet) 2010

Rating: **** (music performance) ***** (sonic quality)
Total Time: 59m09s

The debut album by an all-star quintet comprised of Dave Liebman (tenor & soprano saxophones), John Abercrombie (electric guitar), Marc Copland (acoustic piano), Drew Gress (bass) & Billy Hart (drums).
Produced & engineered by Pirouet's head, Jason Seizer.
Recorded on January 6 & 7, 2010, at (Tony) Bennett Studios, New Jersey, USA
Mixed on February 4 & 5, 2010, at Pirouet Studios, Munich, Germany.

Except for the last track, a 9-minute plus version of the standard "You and The Night and The Music," all tunes are originals: three by Abercrombie ("Sendup," "Four on One," "Retractable Cell"), two by Drew Gress ("Like It Never Was," "My Refrain"), one by my dear friend Marc Copland "Childmoon Smile"), one by Billy Hart ("Lullaby for Imke") and one co-written by Dave Liebman & Caris Visention ("Lost Horizon").

"Five on One": the work of five friends. Five musicians who can find each other in the dark and thereby have developed an intense interplay characterized by an intimate warmth. These are gorgeously harmonious, masterful recordings played by musicians who could care less about what happens to be in vogue. Five radical individuals who play as one.