Frequent collaborators Houston Person & Ron Carter have learned a thing or two about music over the years, and on the stirring Remember Love, this stellar duo is ready and able to tell you all about it. Tenor saxophonist Houston and bassist Carter debuted as a duo with 1989's Something In Common for Muse, and followed that up with five more sessions over the decades. Obviously, it’s a situation that both men enjoy, and if the enthusiastic reception of their releases is any indication, plenty of listeners and critics have also found joy in their repeated encounters. Remember Love presents a typically well-selected group of songs, with standards including My One and Only Love (gorgeous) and The Way You Look Tonight (tender and romantic), Luiz Bonfá’s Gentle Rain, the Ellington/Strayhorn masterpiece Day Dream, and a pair of originals in Carter’s Blues for D.P. and Person’s Why Not. The only real surprise, and a welcome one, is the inclusion of You Are My Sunshine, a feature for an unaccompanied Carter. To close the show, Person goes it alone on the standard Without a Song, where he chooses not to improvise at all but just state the melody with his warm and reedy sound. That’s all he really needs. It’s easy to take such mastery for granted after Person and Carter have spent so many years in the spotlight, but that would be a grave mistake. You’d miss the immense pleasure of hearing great melodies performed by two truly gifted jazzmen. Recommended, without a doubt.
HighNote HCD 7315; Houston Person (ts) Ron Carter (b); Englewood Cliffs, NJ, March 27, 2018; Love Is Here to Stay/ My One and Only Love/ Why Not/ Day Dream/ Gentle Rain/ The Way You Look Tonight/ You Are My Sunshine/ Blues for D.P./ Easy to Remember/ Without a Song; 52:46. www.jazzdepot.com
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