Label: Leo Records – LR 145 Format: Vinyl, LP Country: UK Released: 1987 Genre: Jazz Style: Free Improvisation
Legendary British free-improv from dynamic duo Peter Nu and Scottish vocalist Maggie Nicols on the prolific Leo records ran by tireless Russian ex-pat Leo Feigin. They're winding, journeying pieces grounded by Nu's often stark / non-rhythmic piano counterpoint style that drifts from hard, repeated notes and softer chord progressions, yet it works in a telepathic tandem with Nicols' multifaceted vocal style, hopping with ease from matter-of-fact observational dialogue, to off-the-cuff ad-libbing and wilder, bordering on speaking-in-tongues / possessed onomatopoeic fits. Intense in parts, but a real treat to hear an artist pushing their voice past the point you thought was possible, manoeuvring / forcing it into shapes thought impossible, darting from lounge-style held vibrato to 4th-wall dissolving quintessentially British chat - catching you fully off guard as if that lady on the street has asked you what time the next bus is.SO GOOD.(VG+/VG+).
