Between Two Eternities

Album Review

Noah Howard is a unique alto saxophonist who almost never runs out of ideas. He is also unusual in that his blues-drenched aesthetic seems perfectly at home in a free improvisational setting. This recording brings Howard together with drummer Bobby Kapp with whom the saxophonist had not performed in more than 30 years. As might be expected, sparks fly, the intensity rarely lets up, and the duo seems miraculously in near-perfect synch after so many years. There are times, as on the opening "Between Two Eternities," where Howard burns as fiercely as ever, when spinning the disc would smoke up any room. There, as elsewhere, Howard rolls off an endless display of powerful statements that logically develop and unfold. Not all of the eight cuts are as compelling, though, and Kapp sometimes appears a tad reticent. Nonetheless, these fellows are on to something important, and this CD is a valuable contribution to each of their discographies.