Alexander von Schlippenbach, Dag Magnus Narvesen

Interweaving pairs the legendary Alexander von Schlippenbach on grand piano and Dag Magnus Narvesen on drums, who is 45 years his junior. The two first worked together when Schlippenbach was a guest of Norway’s Kitchen Ensemble (one of many descendants of GUO) in 2013 and the precedent for this project is Schlippenbach’s longtime duo with Swedish drummer Sven-Åke Johansson. This is a highly percussive Schlippenbach in tandem with Narvesen’s skittering accompaniment, or ethereal and sparse over mysterious clangs and pings. Either way, the pianist still crafts cohesive statements, melodic cells connecting firmly to each other while the drummer is tightly restrained in his responses, whether via density or dynamics. Monk makes another appearance to close the album with “Evidence”. They say love is the international language; Schlippenbach and Narvesen prove it is actually free improvisation.