P.J. Perry & Tommy Banks - Old Friends

For their first duo record, saxophonist P.J. Perry and pianist Tommy Banks play with the unforced enthusiasm you might expect but with an added ear for nuance and detail given their spare setting. While they stick with ballads through most of this 70-minute set of standards there are still a few sprightly tempos among 16 carefully engineered tracks. Perry's glowing alto sax remains his most revealing instrument though it's closely matched in the big, breathy feel of his tenor outings as he conjures up romance (My Old Flame, Laura), melancholy (If You Could See Me Now, My Ideal), and fleeting joy (Joy Spring, The Best Things In Life Are Free). Banks' solo breaks take off with elegance, cheerful lyricism (Ceora, September Song) and understated bluesiness (Blue And Sentimental) when he's not playing the perfect foil to Perry's fluid melodies. This is an intimate collaboration every classic jazz fan should hear for the decades of shared experience it reflects and the intangible magic of two familiar musical minds meeting up for the simple satisfaction of it all. ~Roger Levesque