Patrick Moraz / Bill Bruford – In Tokyo
Winterfold
http://www.billbruford.com/

Rating:  B+

What happens when you take two legendary progressive rock musicians and put them together? Well if you’re talking about keyboardist Patrick Moraz (Refugee, Yes, The Moody Blues) and percussionist Bill Bruford (Yes, King Crimson, Genesis) chances are the results will end up sounding closer to jazz, which shouldn’t be all that surprising in the case of either musician. Moraz who is classically trained, cut his teeth playing jazz  before venturing into the world of progressive rock, and Bruford grew up admiring jazz musicians in the 60’s, before finally deciding to take the plunge and further explore the genre in greater detail with his band Earthworks in the late 80’s. Joining forces in the mid 80’s Moraz and Bruford released two albums, Music For Piano And Drums (1983) and Flags (1985). In Tokyo which has just been released on Bruford’s Winterfold label is a dazzling live show recorded in the summer of 1985 that finds their creative partnership at its peak.

The duo covers a lot of ground both sonically and musically here as they both slide back and forth between their respective acoustic and electronic instruments, which at the same time allow them to incorporate and explore many different styles of music. This is the kind of collaboration that really flourishes in a live setting as the duo feeds off, and pushes one another to the limit through the fast and furious tempos on such tracks as  “Cachaca” and the ten minute “Hazy”, which is certainly one of the more eclectic and ambitious compositions on this disc.  Other songs such as “Galatea” and “Eastern Sundays” find them slowing things down a little bit as the crisp, delicate notes pour forth from Moraz’s piano , while Bruford displays endless amounts of both grace and passion behind the drums, proving  that when it comes to world class percussionists, he is truly in a league of his own. Listening to In Tokyo is like revisiting a glorious moment captured in time; it’s a dynamic and moving live document that caught two virtuoso musicians at the height of their collaborative powers. Even if you’re not necessarily a fan of jazz, if you’re fan of either of these two musicians, as well as a fan of music, then you should definitely check out this disc.

    -Ryan Sparks