In celebration of his seventy-fifth birthday, acclaimed German percussionist paired with trumpeter for this adventurous and surprisingly cohesive duo album, 2018's . At face value, and may seem like an odd match. A longtime exponent of creative avant-garde jazz and free improvisation, has played with such highly regarded luminaries as , , and . Conversely, is one of the most recognizable German instrumentalists, whose albums often straddle the line between straight-ahead, and smooth jazz. That said, is also an immensely gifted soloist, as indebted to the harmonically rich post-bop of as the warm lyricism of . Here, both ends of the trumpeter's influences are redolent as he joins on a set of original (and one assumes largely improvised) songs as well as imaginative renditions of the standards "Danny Boy" and 's "In a Sentimental Mood." What's particularly compelling about the album is just how relaxed and beautifully counterbalanced the duo's performances are, shifting from emotive melodicism one minute to atonal expressiveness the next. While the absence of a chordal instruments means there is an abundance of space to fill, 's inventive percussion choices, including trap set, drums, and what sound like sundry gongs, shakers, metal shards, woodblocks, and bells, more than makes up for the lack of piano or bass. Similarly, never sounds anything less than commanding, able to convey a song's harmonic and melodic structure just as he leaps off into the oblivion with breathy growls, puckered chirps, and long, sanguine sighs. is an organic, highly engaging conversation. ~ Matt Collar