Trevor Watts & Veryan Weston - 5 More Dialogues (2011)

Saxophonist Trevor Watts and pianist Veryan Weston consider their duo improvisations to be "dialogues," as the titles of their albums together reflect, but occasionally the word -- implying a conversation between two people at a minimum -- might be considered a misnomer when applied to their music. Watts & Weston may emphasize their duality with the uppercase "TWO" in several track titles on 2011's 5 More Dialogues -- which continues and builds upon the thread of their first Emanem label outing, 6 Dialogues from 2002 -- yet they are sometimes so closely aligned in their playing that boundaries between them seem nearly erased. Or unexpected lines of dialogue emerge, as in a moment during "Exchanged Frequencies," when Watts' soprano closely mirrors Weston's right-hand dance across the upper-register keys and Weston's left hand builds a contrasting foundation; this particular musical conversation would seem to involve Weston on one side, and Watts and Weston on the other. Elsewhere, the musicians' in-the-moment responsiveness to one another nearly gives the impression of scored rather than improvised material. In the early moments of opening track "cuTWOrm," Watts on alto lets loose with flurries of notes over animated pianistics before finding a descending melody line perfectly matched to Weston's own measured harmonic tumble; then, after a rapid ascent into near dissonance, Weston abruptly brings the dynamic down to sparse quietude and Watts is with him every step of the way. And so it goes as the 13-and-a-half-minute piece rises and falls throughout its duration, flowing one moment and staccato the next, moving from brash to contemplative and back again before finally whispering to a close.
It would be an overstatement, however, to claim Watts & Weston are singularly devoted to merging their musical personas on this or their other Dialogues albums; they understand that coming together and breaking apart are key to their improvisational relationship. And Weston is a diverse and robust sparring partner for Watts when the two musicians are conversing, cajoling, or caterwauling from their separate vantage points, the pianist stylistically expansive yet always incisive and focused, moving effortlessly between jazz, classical, and experimental forms, in "cuTWOrm" and elsewhere occasionally even flirting with what might be heard as abstract boogie-woogie. A perfect balance of synchronicity and complementary commentary is achieved on "rooTWOrm," one of the hourlong album's four tracks in the 12-and-a-half to 14-minute range. Weston begins blocky and assertive, Watts in sharp yet fluid contrast before his phrasing becomes more clipped in another perfect match-up with the pianist's rhythmic knots. Again they retreat from forcefulness and find lyricism in tandem, Watts melodic as Weston skirts the edges of jazz and classicism, continually seguing from idea to idea and returning to animated, angular dynamics. Watts is back on soprano for the like-minded "Frequent Exchanges," mirroring the aforementioned "Exchanged Frequencies," before the duo builds up-and-down staircases of sound on the closing six-minute "flaTWOrm," journeying together across terrain akin to previous tracks while taking merely half the time to do so.