Jim Hall and Joey Baron: Conversations

between two kindred spirits from different generations. The 80-year-old guitar legend is well known for his beautiful chord voicings, dramatic use of space, and delicate, walking-on-eggshells aesthetic (perhaps best exemplified on Undercurrent, his classic 1962 duet recording with pianist Bill Evans). The 55-year-old drummer, who played in Hall’s band during the late 80s and has resurfaced as a key collaborator in recent years, is widely regarded as one of the most intuitive risk- takers on the scene over the past 20 years from his acclaimed work with John Zorn, Bill Frisell, Laurie Anderson, and John Abercrombie. Baron’s rare abilities as a colorist along with his uncanny gift for melodicism on the kit, whether playing with sticks, brushes, mallets, or hands, or pulling tonal rainbows out of cymbals, underscores impressionistic vignettes like “Reinhardt,” “Pollock,” “Monet,” the poignant “Ballad Painting,” and the title track. The two also turn in brief but exuberant interpretations of “Bags’ Groove” and “St. Thomas” (Sonny Rollins’ theme song introduced in 1956), but their most audacious and rewarding encounters occur on extended, freewheeling, in-the- moment improvisations like “What If,” “Travelogue,” and “Safari.”