Blued Dharma
Adrean Farrugia/Joel Frahm
New York tenor saxophonist Joel Frahm is widely known in the jazz world for his effusive creativity, rollicking positive spirit, technical fluency and versatility.
Hamilton pianist Adrean Farrugia’s formidable playing is less well-known. But on Blued Dharma, a new album of duo exploits, Farrugia proves himself to be Frahm’s match.
Not that there was anything competitive going on in the studio when the two of them met in New York last summer and made the album. On the contrary, Frahm and Farrugia mesh together like two great conversationalists, or even two fast friends, over the album’s seven tracks.
It helps that the pair have a significant playing history. For almost a decade, they have played in groups led by Toronto drummer Ernesto Cervini. Apparently at a soundcheck some years ago, they were messing around musically together and Frahm quipped, “Hey man, we should record a duo record sometime.” Fortunately, they followed through.
Blued Dharma, which the duo will mark with gigs tonight (Friday, April 27) and Sunday in Toronto and Waterloo respectively, is rife with vibrant, lyrical playing and luminous, exploratory fervour.
The three tracks that present the duo’s take on jazz standards afford a floor-to-ceiling window on how unbridled the playing can be when Frahm and Farrugia join forces. There are two takes of Cherokee and one of Nobody Else But Me that are full of creative sparks. To me, they feel as free as the free jazz that allows the conventions of jazz rhythm and harmony to take a time out, except that Frahm and Farrugia utterly revel in those rigours.
Speaking of freedom, you could say that Frahm and Farrugia are all the more unfettered because there are no bass and drums contributing to the music-making. But at the same time, there’s absolutely no lack of propulsion or low-end girding to the music, given the completeness of the duo’s playing. In particular, Farrugia is a one-man rhythm section, covering all the bases.
The disc’s five other tracks are Farrugia originals. The title track, which opens the album and features Frahm on soprano saxophone, is jaunty and a forthrightly singable, with a bit of a Brad Mehldau vibe. With its bluesy and funky underpinning, Gospell is equally catchy and thoroughly explored. For Murray Gold is a ballad that begins tenderly and grows more expansive. Cool Beans is a swaggering blues-based tune with character. Half Moon, dedicated to Farrugia’s wife, vocalist Sophia Perlman, is the disc’s pretty and intense closer, featuring Frahm again on soprano and a broad, satisfying arc that ranges from a gentle whisper to a exultant roar.
Throughout the disc, the sense of connection and common purpose linking Farrugia and Frahm is broad and upbeat, while the in-the-moment crafting of the music is finely tuned and unerring. Blued Dharma hits all of the markers that a superior jazz duo record should, and then some.