Concurrence is a new age jazz duo – bassist Greg Bryant and keyboardist Paul Horton (best known maybe for his work with Grammy award winning Alabama Shakes). Bryant and Horton have worked together on and off for ten years but it’s taken till now for them to get round to cutting an album together. For the set, they’re joined by percussionist Tommy Crane and trumpeter Rod McGaha.
McGaha’s trumpet is featured on just one track, the sombre, mellow ‘Shelltoe’ and that mellow cool is the album’s over riding flavour. Tunes like ‘The Ansible’, ‘Answers’, the all-too short ‘Cirrus’ and ‘Inventory’ would not be out of place on any of those famed Cafe Del Mar compilations from back in the day. Never bland, they intrigue and relax in the way that the very best chill tunes do. On them all Horton’s keys are clear and crystalline – here reminding you of Bob James, there – maybe it’s Ramsey Lewis at his delicate best.
‘Receiver’ is more intriguing. A bassy, bumpy ride this offers accordion fills (or at least electronically- created accordion effects)… continental and cinematic. There are more shades of classic, 60s continental cinema on the haunting ‘Think Back’ while the most unusual of the album’s 12 tracks is the jaunty, avant-garde meander that is ‘Use Of Cymbals’.
(BB) 3/5
