Arrows (FMR, 2010)
****½

What a great album! Master percussionist and
"sound sculpture artist" Steve Hubback meets Dutch
minimalist saxophonist Ad Peijnenburg, for eleven varied
pieces of highly creative, invigorating and spiritual music.
Hubback is not a rhythmic percussionist per se,
but is more interested in the sounds coming forth
of his many bells, drums and gongs, while in contrast,
Peijnenburg is a very rhythmic player, often resorting
to repetitive phrases built around a tonal center.

The title of the first two tracks "Impression From Silence"
already give a glimpse of the program: the sensitive and
careful creation of sounds around silence.
There is no sense of urgency, there is no clear
melodic or harmonic structure, but the listening experience is magnificent.
Listen to the wail of the sopraninosax on
"Prooi", which I already thought sounded like a wounded animal,
even before I read the Dutch title, which means "prey",
just to let you know how evocative these artists are.

"Something Circles" is almost funky, with Peijnenburg
indeed playing a pretty basic circling phrase on his
baritone sax. It sounds simple and straight forward,
yet juxtaposed to Hubback's floating cymbal work,
it results in great effect. "Mole Dance" falls
in the same category, yet the short piece is permeated by
a bluesy feeling, without being too explicit.

In sum, apart from the brilliant first two pieces,
you get nine shorter pieces, full of musical joy,
with tribal rhythms, interesting concepts which are
never overly extended but kept to their bare essence:
a cadence, a feeling, a mood, a timbral exploration :
light-footed and fun. An ode to life.
In terms of recent reference :
it fits well in the same series of other
great sax percussion duos :
Han & Frode by Bennink & Gjerstad,
Nada by François Carrier & Michel Lambert,
Circle & Line by Donat Fisch and Christian Wolfarth Enjoy!

For additional reference, please also check
Peijnenburg's duo album with William Parker,
called Brooklyn Calling

more information
http://www.adpeijnenburg.com