Chris Kelsey

On Evident (482), the duo of bassist Joëlle Léandre and percussionist Mark Nauseef demonstrate the rewards of patience and denial when faced with an empty musical canvas. Léandre in particular is obviously a superior technician, yet it's the sedulous manner in which both harness their virtuosity that makes this music so effective. All nine tracks begin with a sparse percussive introduction—the ping of a cymbal, the peal of a bell, the click of wood upon wood—whereupon Léandre enters, sometimes with a bravura display, yet just as often with calm consideration. the episodes then expand, sometimes with a painstaking slowness, sometimes with an impulsive rapidity. What is most striking is the musical "rightness" of the pair's choices. The instrumental impulse and the virtue of restraint are held in balance, resulting in some challenging, but very lovely, very intense music.

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