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Ask Me Now
Alan Barnes, David Newton
Perhaps reflecting their maturity and the degree of relaxation evident throughout the date, there are no hell-raising, go-for-broke tear ups on the album, rather a series of neatly wrought explorations...
Ask Me Now
Alan Barnes, David Newton
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Perhaps reflecting their maturity and the degree of relaxation evident throughout the date, there are no hell-raising, go-for-broke tear ups on the album, rather a series of neatly wrought explorations...
About
'Ask Me Now' is an outstanding collaboration on Woodville Records from two stalwarts of the British jazz scene, Alan Barnes on clarinet and alto, soprano and baritone saxophones and David Newton on piano. Newton is undoubtedly one of the finest solo jazz pianists the UK has ever produced and the prolific Barnes, perhaps needless to say, is highly accomplished across all reed instruments.
Throughout the album Barnes and Newton exhibit an empathy which only playing together for some forty years can bring, with the emphasis always on swinging, accessibility and interplay. At times both musicians manage to sound like a much bigger ensemble than a duo, with the saxophonist sounding particularly agile on the sometimes cumbersome baritone and the pianist both nimble and bluesy, as the occasion demands.
Recorded in July 2017, the programme of music features well-known standards together with hallowed pieces from pianist / composers Duke Ellington, Billy Strayhorn, Thelonious Monk and Hank Jones. The pair also contribute one original each, intriguingly both of these are bossa nova flavoured, Barnes' "The Sun, The Sea, The Stars and Me" and Newton's "Looking at You".
Personnel: Alan Barnes (clarinet, alto, soprano and baritone saxophones), David Newton (piano)
Contents and tracklist
- David Newton, Alan Barnes
- David Newton, Alan Barnes
- David Newton, Alan Barnes
- David Newton, Alan Barnes
- David Newton, Alan Barnes
- David Newton, Alan Barnes
Awards and reviews
May 2018
Perhaps reflecting their maturity and the degree of relaxation evident throughout the date, there are no hell-raising, go-for-broke tear ups on the album, rather a series of neatly wrought explorations of some fine tunes, often harmonically canny, these two men clearly at ease with each other, yet mutually dependent.