Duets

Tom Collier and Dan Dean show up again-this time up close and personal-on Duets (Origin). Joined at the hip (very hip) for four decades, they boast a passion for exploration and curiosity greater than Lewis and Clark's. This release, culled from four Seattle sessions recorded between 2001 and 2004, reveals a rich, swinging tapestry woven by vibraphone and electric bass.

The leaders contributing two originals apiece, with the remaining seven coming from Miles, Coltrane, Gerry Mulligan, Victor Feldman, Larry Coryell, Dave Holland and Mick Jagger-the Rolling Stones' blues "What a Shame" is played unabashedly straightahead. Coryell's "Lines" is a chops-busting, mostly unison workout. Mulligan's "Five Brothers" provides Dean with a chance for impressive speed walking, during which he quotes "Flight of the Bumblebee." John Coltrane's "Giant Steps" is right up Coll-ier's alley due to its interesting changes, something Collier contributes himself in his soothing "Pacific Aire." Dean offers a remarkable mini tone poem in "Kill the Butler," in which Collier simply plays his derriere off.