MUSIC REVIEW BY Bill Milkowski, JazzTimes
These intimate duos mark the third such encounter between guitarist Bob Sneider and pianist Paul Hofmann, both faculty members at the Eastman School of Music. They exhibit an easy rapport on the jaunty opener, "Warm Welcome," a riff on "All God's Chillun Got Rhythm" that culminates in some sparkling exchanges and bristling unison lines. They settle into sublime conversations on Hofmann's gentle "Grace" and his waltzy-time "I Remember Bill Evans," then burn McCoy Tyner's "Inception." Sneider, who shows a decided Joe Pass influence throughout, switches to acoustic guitar on his buoyant "Samba Getz." Hofmann's five-movement suite, "Serve and Volley" (written for his tennis-star daughter), is the perfect microcosm of the pair's indelibly tight musical connection.
