Thanks very much to everyone who came out to any of our three CD release shows for Duocracy! Ben and I had a great time and were really pleased with the turnout and audience response. We hope to have more shows lined up soon, but in the meantime, here are some new reviews for the CD, plus some video from our Jazzschool (now California Jazz Conservatory!) show. (Also, don't forget my trio TAKOYAKI 3 is playing Friday, March 14, in Berkeley!)First, the reviews--I'm really pleased that the CD was selected for a review by Down Beat, which is still the magazine of record for the jazz scene after 80-some years. Here's what they had to say:
Both busy members of the Bay Area jazz community, 30-somethings Stolorow and Carey pair up here for a duo outing largely focused on tunes dating back a couple of generations before they were born. The tone is set by the warmth of opener "Little White Lies," accelerated as "Cherokee" finds rapid-fire lines erupting from Carey's trumpet, and settles back as Stolorow takes a stride-inflected spin on Monk's "Four in One." It's a lively trip down a straightahead path... obviously deriving a refreshing joy from the familiar sights.
We also picked up a nice review from Music Charts Magazine:
Inventive and pretty, the music on Duocracy (recorded in 2013) is reminiscent of that created by Ruby Braff and Dick Hyman on several albums, including Play Nice Tunes (1994), though Braff usually performed on cornet while Ian Carey plays trumpet. Pianist Ben Stolorow and Carey mostly favor tunes from what is often called the Great American Songbook... Jazz writers who decry musicians’ continued interest in such music should listen to Stolorow and Carey’s fresh treatment of standards. Ranging chronologically from the Gershwins’ “How Long Has This Been Going On” and Rodgers and Hart’s “You Took Advantage of Me” (both 1928) to Henry Mancini’s “Two for the Road” (1967), seven of the ten selections are well known. The tempos range from sprightly to deliberate. The briskest selection, “Cherokee” begins with a brief fanfare, as if to announce that something special is coming. Indeed, the trumpet-piano interplay is impressive, as it is throughout this CD. The contrast between “Cherokee” and the next tune, Gordon Jenkins’s “Goodbye,” the longest and least hurried piece, is extreme; pairing these pieces reveals the musicians’ emotional range, from playfulness to introspection. ... Hardly radical, the trumpeter and pianist are content to investigate the nuances of mostly established compositions, ones that some commentators consider effete. These tunes have endured because of their attractiveness and richness, qualities that appeal to instrumentalists and singers. Stolorow and Carey’s treatment of them is uniquely theirs. They play nice tunes nicely.
And here's one from The Jazz Page:
The pared down pairing of trumpeter Ian Carey and pianist Ben Stolorow on their new effort Duocracy is a simple pleasure. It’s not often that we get hear the interplay of the trumpet and piano alone together, and the talents of these two gentleman certainly elevates the caliber of the effort. They primarily cover a nice selection of standards by Rodgers and Hart, Henry Mancini, Thelonious Monk, George and Ira Gerswhin and Walter Donaldson among others. The duo of Carey and Stolorow makes this more than a fascinating concept, instead it’s a fantastic recording.
As promised, here are two videos from our Jazzschool show, each featuring tunes which can also be found on the album--the first is Monk's "Four In One":)And here's Kern's chestnut "All the Things You Are...")
