Flexibility isn't an absolutely essential quality for a jazz musician to have; an improviser doesn't have to be incredibly daring or ultra-eclectic to record meaningful, worthwhile albums. But flexibility is certainly a positive quality to have -- not essential, but definitely positive -- and over the years, flexibility has worked quite well for acoustic bassist
Gary Peacock, whose résumé includes everyone from
Bill Evans and
Keith Jarrett to
Bill Frisell and
Albert Ayler. His willingness to enter a variety of jazz situations has been a plus, and
Insight -- it turns out -- is an album of intimate bass/acoustic piano duets with
Marc Copland. This 58-minute CD was recorded from 2005-2007;
Peacock was in his early seventies, and
Copland was in his late fifties. By that time, both of them had long since earned their stripes and paid their share of dues; so neither of them have anything to prove on
Insight. Instead,
Insight sounds like the work of two musical friends getting together in the studio and having a mutually agreeable post-bop dialogue. That isn't to say that the performances are simplistic; there is plenty of complexity on this disc, which is dominated by
Peacock and
Copland's own writing but also contains four well-known standards ("Sweet and Lovely,"
Dave Brubeck's "In Your Own Sweet Way," and the
Miles Davis gems "Blue in Green" and "All Blues").
Copland's pianism tends to be impressionistic and cerebral, but for listeners who aren't intimidated by all that complexity and intellect, it is evident that he and
Peacock are really enjoying each other's company.
Insight fall short of remarkable, although it is still a good, solid demonstration of the positive things that can happen when two seasoned jazz veterans get together. ~ Alex Henderson