Kindred Rhythm
2006
The Elephant Sleeps But Still Remembers
About This Album
This collaboration between drummer, pianist, and composer Jack DeJohnette and guitarist Bill Frisell, was recorded live at the Earshot Festival in 2001. But it doesn't end there. The pair, who had only played together once before on Don Byron's Romance with the Unseen, had a chance to listen to the tapes together and decided to add some additional production to the tracks. DeJohnette called in sound engineer Ben Surman, who added "additional production": basslines, ambient sounds, and other electronics and percussion. If you are raising your eyebrows in doubt, think again. One listen to the title track that opens the album should convince you otherwise. Here, a simple blues-like figure becomes a riff that the pair build upon, turn inside out, and make into a labyrinthine journey. Surman's added basslines root the proceedings deeper into the groove. His ambient and electronic sounds are far from distracting. They are more painterly, unobtrusive and yet colorful. Frisell and DeJohnette are such fine listeners and intuitive players that they anticipate one another without ever going over the line that makes free improvisation wankery. The art of the duo comes down to one concept ultimately, and that is true collaboration; musically the pair travel someplace different from where they began.
Track List (try tracks 1 and 7)

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