For those unaware, some music defies easy classification and description, as do some musicians. Violinist Meg Okura has never played it safe. Fearlessly creative, she has long inhabited her own fresh and unpredictable world of music.

Classically trained with degrees from Juilliard, she switched to jazz after graduation and has since worked with a long list of notables (including Lee Konitz, Michael Brecker, and Tom Harrell), led her Pan Asian Chamber Jazz Ensemble, and recorded more than ten albums of her own.

While Kevin Hays has had a very different life, his musical attitude and openness to new collaborations is similar to Meg’s. He has led over 20 albums since 1990 and has worked with everyone from Sonny Rollins, Joshua Redman and Chris Potter to Eddie Henderson, Lionel Loueke, and Brad Mehldau.

Meg and Kevin have performed together on an occasional basis during the past decade. Whenever they get together, they inspire each other, not by playing the obvious or repeating safe ideas but by challenging each other and traveling musically to surprising places.

All of the music on their brand new album Lingering was recorded in four hours. Throughout the invigorating set, the two musicians consistently blur the differences between composition and improvisation, making the most spontaneous moments sound planned in advance while their melodic statements are free and loose. And although violin-piano duets are somewhat rare in jazz, one never misses the bass or drums during these fascinating encounters.

1. Improvisation No. 1 (4:06)
2. Without Words (5:45)
3. Again and Again (3:31)
4. Will You Hear My Voice (5:01)
5. Seven Short Pieces: I. Aleph (4:18)
6. Seven Short Pieces: II. Blues Kachol (5:07)
7. Seven Short Pieces: III. Mi is Who is He is She (3:03)
8. Seven Short Pieces: IV. Maim Korim (3:40)
9. Seven Short Pieces: V. Shamaim (5:37)
10. Seven Short Pieces: VI. Lilah (4:32)
11. Seven Short Pieces: VII. Hora Tarantella (4:05)
12. Waltz For Wollesen (5:13)
13. Improvisation No. 2 (3:19)
14. Lingering (6:36)

The album opens on the delicately hued, gently frenetic Improvisation No. 1 and the plucked/fiddled ambiance of Without Words and then we get the aching yearn found within Again and Again, the ornate nature of Will You Hear My Voice, and then come an aptly-named series of short pieces: the backwoods-hued Aleph, the sterner fare of Blues Kachol and the impassioned Mi is Who is He is She.

Continuing in this short piece vein, along next is the intricacies found within Maim Korim and the strident fiddle work of Shamaim, and they are in turn backed by the low slung Lilah, the works ending with the spirited Hora Tarantella, the recording rounding out on the somber-toned Waltz For Wollesen, the rather fanciful Improvisation No. 2, closing on the veritably shimmering Lingering.

Meg Okura: violin
Kevin Hays: piano

www.megokura.com

www.kevinhays.com