A Meeting by the River

Meeting for the first time, maverick guitarist Cooder and Hindustani virtuoso Bhatt improvised these four subtle, beautiful instrumentals. Both play slide guitar, with Cooder on bluesy bottleneck and Bhatt playing his own invention, the Mohan veena, which provides keening, almost vocal sounds on the slowly unfolding title track. The music literally goes all over the map, with Cooder laying Mississippi Delta licks over an Indian-styled raga. The elegant finale, \"Isa Lei,\" shows their intuitive connection—two instrumental voices merging into one.