Pianist David Kikoski and bassist Boris Kozlov have shared a lot of stages and recording studios since they first appeared together as members of the Mingus Big Band at the end of the 1990's. So it makes perfect sense for the pair to record as a duo, and the resulting session, Sure Thing, is a real delight from start to finish. As Kozlov told Bill Milkowski for the liner notes, “there’s a lot of history at this point. And when you play together for a long time you learn how a person thinks, how things flow ... it’s this familiarity that makes it really pleasurable to play together.” The program includes four of Kikoski’s evocative compositions, plus the Jerome Kern standard that gives the album its name, Chick Corea’s Quartet #1, John Coltrane’s Satellite, and the set’s biggest surprise, Keith Emerson’s Fugue from “The Endless Enigma.” Emerson, Lake & Palmer’s Trilogy album, released in 1972, was a big Kikoski favorite when he was a pre-teen. He’s always wanted to play the fugue section, and here it is, deftly arranged for the duo and lovingly performed. Other highlights include the gentle sparring on Kikoski’s Strength for Change (previously known as New Old Ballad), the vigorous and expansive rendition of the Corea tune, and the duo’s romp through the Coltrane number. Kozlov notes that he heard Kikoski playing Satellite in a club years ago, and then started practicing the piece “like mad.” All that practice has paid off handsomely here, with an impressive solo and powerful accompaniment to Kikoski’s elaborations of the melody. The pair engages in the most-freewheeling dialogue of the session on Winnie’s Garden, a Kikoski tune based on the popular changes of Sweet Georgia Brown. They’re flying high on this one, the last tune of the disc and the final tune they recorded on a winter’s day in 2016. The teaming of Kikoski and Kozlov offers a bold partnership of improvisational invention, and Sure Thing is cheerfully recommended.
HighNote HCD 7336; David Kikoski (p) Boris Kozlov (b); Brooklyn, NY, February 3, 2016; B Flat Tune/ E/ Fugue from “The Endless Enigma”/ Strength for Change/ Quartet #1/ Satellite/ Sure Thing/ Winnie’s Garden; 57:11. www.jazzdepot.com
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