Saxophonist Ivo Perelman and guitarist Joe Morris are certainly no strangers to each other: the two actually made a duet record together more way back in 1997, but Perelman was playing cello for this encounter.
Morris has since appeared on several Perelman records that often included others. Elliptic Time (Mahakala Music) is their first saxophone/guitar face-off record since 2016’s Blue.
Blue is a set of fairly short improvisations, for Elliptic Time these fellows stretch each performance out, leaving nothing on the table by the time they’re done.
It’s always astonishing when Perelman and his erstwhile partner make spontaneous music together and stay so close together. That happens on “Elliptic Time,” but they’re doing this for a whole quarter hour at near-breakneck speed, never pausing to figuratively catch their breath until the wind-down at the end. Morris proves why he’s the perfect counterpoint to Perelman, as his guitar is a faucet flow of liquid ideas that always maintains a firm sense of direction. The similarly intense “Cosmic Rays Music” is the one brief track but it’s going at warp speed, with no stumbles.
The two virtuosos sprint over two, parallel streams during “Invisible Mass” that somehow sync with each other. “Gravitational Pull” slows it down enough to make it easier to perceive the little wrinkles in their phrasing going on just beneath the surface. “Palpable Energy” is spiky made more so by Perelman going into the high register; Morris meanwhile stays mostly in the mid-to-low end and splaying notes with purpose.
Ivo Perelman and Joe Morris are hardly the first saxophone-guitar duo, but they take that combination to its highest possible level. It’s done with improvisation informed by mastery of their instruments and enlightened by creativity invested into every moment.
Get Elliptic Time from here.
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