Bill Anschell | Brent Jensen

We Couldn't Agree More

Origin 82533



But for all of the exceptional expertise on display here, the rewards of this album are aesthetic and emotional, not technical....a startling cooperative imaginative act.
-Thomas Conrad (Stereophile, JazzTimes)

Pianist Bill Anschell and soprano saxophonist Brent Jensen recorded this duo album with no preconceived arrangements and, for every song, the barest outline of a plan. After performing and recording together for several years in different group contexts, the two decided it was time to explore the duo format. Intimate, lyrical, and imaginative, the two have created a dynamic complement to the classic recordings of Konitz/Galper and Evans/Hall among others.


Track Listing:

1) I'm Old Fashioned 3:45
2) Solar 3:21
3) The People Versus Miss Jones 3:36
4) You and the Night and the Music 5:32
5) What Is This Thing Called Love? 3:49
6) You Aren't All That 3:45
7) Ask Me Now 5:14
8) Beautiful Love 4:37
9) Just Friends 4:41
10) Solar (alternate take) 3:28
11) On the Sunny Side of the Street 4:13

Performers:

Brent Jensen - Soprano Sax
Bill Anschell - Piano

Production Info:

Produced by Bill Anschell and Brent Jensen
Recorded November 11th and 15th, 2008, at 1926 Studios, Boise, ID
Mixed by Bill Anschell
Mastered by Mark Guenther
Liner notes by Thomas Conrad
Design and Layout by John Bishop


Reviews of We Couldn't Agree More

All Music Guide (Ken Dryden)
Piano-soprano sax duets have only been recorded sporadically, with Mal Waldron and Steve Lacy likely being the among the most prolific to work in such a setting. Bill Anschell and Brent Jensen should revive interest in this type of pairing, because they not only complement one another's playing very well but they have the imagination to carry off e ...

Fresh Tracks (George Fendel)
Two Northwest-based musicians get together for a duo performance of mostly familiar standard material, and it all works extremely well. Anschell is one of Seattle's most respected first call pianists and Jensen, a native of Idaho, teaches at College of Southern Idaho. Together they explore the myriad possibilities of such evergreens as "I'm Old F ...

Earshot Jazz (Chris Robinson)
Don't even bother reading the next 500 words - just go buy pianist Bill Anschell and soprano saxophonist Brent Jensen's new album "We Couldn't Agree More" right now. But if you must read on, or need convincing, here you go: Anschell, a Seattle native, and Jensen, who teaches at the College of Southern Idaho in Twin Falls, recently met up on Jensen ...

All About Jazz (John Barron)
We Couldn't Agree More is a great example of what happens when two like-minded musicians gather for an impromptu session, playing through a list of well-worn standards. Pianist Bill Anschell and soprano saxophonist Brent Jensen deliver a relaxed, humorously inventive duo recording that happily swings from beginning to end. Recorded in Boise, Ida ...

All About Jazz.com (C. Michael Bailey)
By definition, the classical or jazz duo is the most intimate performance format. Intimacy requires two parties sharing with a base empathy. An example is Eddie Daniels and Roger Kellaway's A Duet of One (2008, IPO), where the two principles shared a great love for the mainstream and its sensitive presentation. Enter west coasters, pianist Bill ...

Rifftides (Doug Ramsey)
The recent CD by pianist Bill Anschell and soprano saxophonist Brent Jensen is called We Couldn't Agree More. The title is inaccurate. In an intimate concert last weekend at The Seasons, they were in even greater agreement, with more daring and more complexity. The duo's approach is to play well-known tunes without well-known routines; no arran ...

Cadence (Michael Steinman)
Jazz duet playing requires empathy and quick responses, qualities evident in profusion on We Couldn't Agree More. On [this record], Anschell and Jensen make music that is startlingly beautiful, surprising, and powerful. At points, I was reminded of the experiments of Al Cohn and Jimmy Rowlek, the forays of Joel Press and Kyle Aho. But these two ...

JazzTimes (Harvey Siders)
The art of intelligent conversation requires intelligent listening, as well as a certain give and take. What we have here is precisely that: unrehearsed, non-arranged, spontaneous conversation between a piano and a soprano sax, or rather, between the fertile minds of Bill Anschell and Brent Jensen. They are in such command of their respective instr ...



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