SoundDance

On 2011’s *SoundDance*, legendary pianist and composer — and co-founder of the Association for the Advancement of Creative Musicians — Richard Muhal Abrams plays duets with two fellow Chicagoans: the late tenor saxophonist Fred Anderson and the trombonist George Lewis. Anderson was a major presence on the Chicago jazz scene, both as a musician and as proprietor of the Velvet Lounge, a club that was home to jazz and experimental music. “Focus, Thrutime…time,” finds Abrams and Anderson engaging in dynamic, inventive interplay. Both men, who were roughly 80 years of age at the time of this live recording, operate at a very high artistic level here. Lewis, who is also a fine composer and an important scholar, has frequently worked with computers, and on “SoundDance,” he creates intriguing material on his laptop and plays fierce trombone. Abrams, who is primarily associated with acoustic settings, sounds great in this context. At times, Lewis comes up with fascinating sounds that are hard to identify: is that slithery tone coming from a software program or a brass instrument or a combination of the two? *SoundDance* compels throughout

SoundDance presents the great Muhal Richard Abrams in two very different but equally fascinating free improv duets.