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Bill Bruford – drums / Michiel Borstlap – piano and Fender Rhodes – ‘In Two Minds’

Summerfold CD BBSF019CD

Recorded 2007

Bill Bruford has often been ignored by the world of jazz and its critics simply by virtue of the fact that he had been tarred with the seemingly dirty brush of Prog Rock, that musical genre which saw him climb to dizzy heights in the lands of King Crimson and Yes. However, these two bands have always been filed as jazz on my shelves, as I find that more appropriate to what I am hearing. Same thing in fact for Henry Cow, John Cage and Stockhausen and I suppose it must have something to do with innovation, something that Bill has always sought. ‘Prog’ – progressive rock – has been defined as a mindset, a conscious and deliberate approach to writing music based on a variety of elements including, among others, jazz influences and instrumentation, shifting time bases and score-based arrangements. Erm – sounds like some jazz to me.

Dutch pianist Michiel Borstlap is himself a leading light in progressive improvised music, issuing from the jaws of Hilversum Conservatory with much to his credit and as recently as 1992. He has already released eight albums and his own jazz trio performs the best-known jazz standards with proper regard for their roots, but also with fresh thinking and aplomb.

This new album concludes with a new look at Miles Davis’ All Blues, but before we get to that we are treated to eleven tracks of original material that are reminiscent of an overheard conversation between two intimates, almost whispered in places, but with occasional, forceful expressions of thought that threaten to blow out the candles only to be quieted by the more gentle response from the other side. Bill’s rhythm and timing are scrupulously executed as always and Michiel’s work is both complex and subtle. Bill is the more aggressive, conversationally, but Michiel never lacks a response and the whole carried me through an hour of complex cookery without my putting a foot wrong, rather as though I were in fact listening to two friends talking in the next room, while I set out to nourish them. Nourish me this really did and I thoroughly recommend ‘In Two Minds’ to anyone who enjoys innovative jazz.

Reviewed by
ken cheetham
November 2007