Reviews

Garry Dial-Jay Anderson
Living A Dream We’re Not In
(Steeplechase)

In more normal times, a duet album featuring pianist Garry Dial and bassist Jay Anderson would be a fairly simple accomplishment, just a matter of the two musicians going to the studio and perhaps spending two days recording a full CD of music. Dial and Anderson, who have both performed with the who’s who of jazz since the 1980s, are quite familiar with each other’s playing. They worked together in the Red Rodney-Ira Sullivan Quintet starting in 1981, continuing with Rodney through 1992. Anderson was also on Dial’s 1984 trio album (with Joey Baron) called Never Is Now and on a couple of the Dial-Oatts albums during 1989-90. While they had not worked together much since then, they have been long-time friends.

But these are not normal times. In the fall of 2020, Dial was isolated on St. John in the Virgin Islands while Anderson was waiting out the pandemic in New York. Partly to keep his sanity, Dial sent Anderson a few of his piano solos on some new material to see what he thought. Anderson responded by adding his bass part to a couple of the songs. They both agreed that it sounded as if they were in the same room, so over a four-month period they completed this project.

While the emphasis is on ballads and slower material, and some of the titles (such as “Living A Dream We’re Not In” and “Basic Sadness”) relate to the pandemic, the music is not downbeat or depressing. In fact, there is quiet joy to many of the performances, the joy that one gets from performing and listening to music on this level.

The set begins with the thoughtful and heartfelt ballad “I Dare You.” “Dasha’s Dance” starts slow but moves to a medium-tempo pace as the subject goes into her dance before ending quietly. “Fasting” follows a similar format and is highlighted by a tradeoff between Dial and Anderson. Here, as throughout the set, while the pianist might be the lead voice during the majority of the time, Anderson’s bass is an integral part of the music, commenting throughout Dial’s improvisations and often sharing not only the ensembles but the melody statements.

“Ostentagious” is harmonically complex, a little like an original that Bill Evans might have written. “Living A Dream We’re Not In” is a partly out-of-tempo somber lullaby. “Man With A Plan,” which is in 5/4 time, starts with unaccompanied bass before Anderson sets a pattern that pops up regularly throughout the piece. The slightly gloomy “Basic Sadness,” a laidback although ultimately a bit playful “Kate! Get Me My Vic,” and the quietly optimistic “Drunk With Love” complete the project.

The result is an enjoyable set of subtle and introspective music that is well worth listening to several times closely.

— Scott Yanow, jazz journalist/historian