Bob Gluck/Tani Tabbal
At This Time: Duets
(2017, Ictus Records)
By chance, I happened to first listen to At This Time one year to the day from its March 10, 2017, tracking in Woodstock. I was immediately struck by the empathy between pianist/electronicist Gluck and percussionist Tabbal, two masters conversing at a very high level. At This Time soon reveals itself to be a late-night record—a brilliant, seductive one at that—balancing Gluck’s beautiful acoustic playing (with an air between the notes reminiscent of a relaxed Randy Weston) with his electronic adventures. Knowing what thunder both men can throw down, the disc is remarkably chill, with Tabbal’s cymbal work shimmering throughout on tracks like Wayne Shorter’s “Sanctuary” and two takes of Sergio Ortega’s “The People United…”. “Resolve” and “Persistence” literally sound like transmissions from space, yet sit organically with, again, two takes—one solo, one duo—of Jule Styne and Sammy Cahn’s “I Fall in Love Too Easily.” Recommended.
This article appears in May 2018.
