Bill Bruford, Patrick Moraz

condition (record/cover): NM / EX+

By 1983, Bill Bruford had been King Crimson's drummer for two consecutive incarnations, played on the first Yes records and held court in his solo-fusion outfit Bruford. Patrick Moraz, the Swiss keyboardist, had succeeded Rick Wakeman in Yes and then moved on to The Moody Blues. Music For Piano And Drums is what happened when the two of them sat down in a London studio with no songs, no overdubs, no electronics, and resolved to record an entire album as a real-time duo.

The result exists outside the prog imagination it should belong to. Moraz plays acoustic grand throughout, often percussively, often as a third drum. Bruford answers him with a kit augmented by Simmons electronic pads (used as melodic, not flashy, voices). "Eastern Sundays" sets a six-bar ostinato against Bruford's brushwork. "Hazy" turns a single chord progression into a meditation that Keith Jarrett's European Quartet would have recognised. "Living Space" is the closest the record gets to the rhythmic showmanship both players are famous for, and even there the dialogue is courteous, almost chamber-music in form.

Issued on EG Records in 1983 in a gatefold sleeve, this is the original vintage pressing of a quietly intelligent jazz/rock summit record of the era. Followed two years later by Flags; never quite outdone.