Kenny Burron & Buster WIlliams / TWO AS ONE

The Complete Two As One is enriched compared to the first release version in 1986 with a second album of unreleased songs by the magnificent duo. Four tracks, for over 40 minutes of never released music, coming from the same session. This album, The Complete Two As One, was recorded in the nights of Umbria Jazz in the mid-eighties, after the Sphere concert documented in Sphere Live At Umbria Jazz, with an exceptional audience, including George Benson and other famous musicians, in an impromptu session at the Hotel Brufani set up by the great Alberto Alberti, who was also the group’s manager in Europe. It was one of his many happy intuitions. The idea was to highlight and capture on record the great harmonic and improvisational wisdom of two extraordinary soloists who integrated perfectly and who many (but not too many) already then indicated as among the greatest in their respective instruments. Buster Williams is not Kenny Barron’s companion but his interlocutor, his alter ego. An eclectic soloist with a powerful but delicate delivery, a sumptuous sound and an elastic timing that allows him fantastic solos. It is not often that you hear an instrument – created to accompany and make others play well – play the part of the soloist with such mastery, always keeping the listener’s interest alive, who cannot help but be surprised by the beauty of the sound and the lines. melodic. Furthermore, when Williams accompanies, he is no less in underlining, stimulating and supporting the soloist. In our opinion, Buster Williams is one of the great bassists in the history of modern jazz who also knows how to be an excellent leader, which is not easy for double bass players, as his recent works testify. La sua fama non è pari al suo valore musicale e strumentale, anche se poi, ai suoi concerti, come è recentemente capitato, ci trovi proprio quei musicisti, compresi molti bravi bassisti, che solitamente non trovi quasi mai. Kenny Barron è un magnifico solista, che sa essere molto creativo. Accompagnatore acclamato e ricercato dai grandi, che lo hanno voluto con sé in decine e decine di session e tournée in tutto il mondo, è considerato anch’egli un top piano player da oltre trent’anni da un’ampia fascia di jazz fan e operatori del settore. Barron perpetua e continua con originalità la grande tradizione nera del piano jazz moderno, di cui è oggi uno dei massimi esponenti. Per intenderci, quella che da Bud Powell, via Tommy Flanagan, Red Garland, Wynton Kelly e altri arriva a Tyner, Hancock, e le cui influenze sono talora non solo avvertibili ma trasformate in un personale e originale stile che lo rendono riconoscibile a qualunque orecchio esperto (Sergio Veschi).