Carla Bley, Steve Swallow - Duets (1988)

Carla Bley's band keeps shrinking. In 1971, she recorded Escalator Over The Hill with a cast of dozens; a decade later, she was leading a 10-piece group; after that, it was a sextet. Now, it's just a piano-bass duo with the masterful Steve Swallow. The textures may be thinner, but the ideas are as big and outrageous as ever, and the playing is so accurate it's almost scary.