Swallow Tales

Guitarist celebrates the music of his mentor and longtime collaborator, bassist , with his intimate, ebulliently performed 2020 album . Having initially met in the early '70s while was still a student at Berklee College of Music, and built a distinctive creative partnership. They initially formed a trio with drummer , and released a series of harmonically nuanced and exploratory albums like 1980's and 1981's . They also paired for other eclectic dates over the years, eventually forming another trio with drummer for the 2004 live album . Recorded in a one-day session in 2019, finds , , and investigating a handful of 's best-loved and lesser-played compositions. The album arrives on the heels of several other small group sessions, including 2017's and 2018's . As with those dates, benefits from the guitarist's adventurous attitude and preternatural sense for group interplay. The main difference is 's affinity for 's compositions. Often pretty and simply stated, 's songs have a vocal quality as if they were intended to be sung. In fact, they've occasionally been adapted into vocal numbers, as in the case of the opening "She Was Young," which was originally composed to accompany a poem by . Obviously, while there is no singing here, nonetheless plays with a warmth and ringing lyricism that speaks to his deep understanding of 's work. Equally engaging are tracks like the summery "Hullo Bolinas," and the hushed ballad "Away," both of which find wrapping himself in 's delicate basslines and 's subtle cymbal and brush work. Elsewhere, he takes a more robust and exploratory approach, punctuating tracks like "Falling Grace," "Eiderdown, and "Awful Coffee," with bluesy accents, off-kilter post-bop runs, and twangy asides. , though less frenetically inclined, ground 's flights of fancy with their own textured emotionality. It's a sound whose earthy lilt sometimes has the feel of a three-member vocal group, rather than an instrumental trio. ~ Matt Collar