Ones & Twos

Sound DNA

• Jazz
• Post-Bop & Modal

• clean
• meditative
• cerebral

About

Jazz artists have long looked for ways to build meaningful bridges to hip-hop and vice versa, whether it’s the producer Madlib’s reworking of the Blue Note catalog (<i>Shades of Blue: Madlib Invades Blue Note</i>) or pianist Robert Glasper’s cross-disciplinary <i>Black Radio</i> series. Here we have an unusual project led by Grammy-nominated pianist/vibraphonist Gerald Clayton, which features six tunes presented in two distinct but complementary forms, like body and shadow, or conjoined puzzle pieces, or the opposing sides of yin and yang. (The album’s title comes from the old hip-hop slang for turntables, as in the first and second input on the DJ’s mixer.) From this catchy concept—executed with the help of vibraphonist Joel Ross, flautist Elena Pinderhughes, trumpeter Marquis Hill, and drummer Kendrick Scott, with postproduction from drummer/rapper Kassa Overall—comes music that feels naturally, excitingly elusive, recalling the fragmentation of sample-based hip-hop (“Rush”), the fourth-world/fusion vibes of Jon Hassell (“Sacrifice Culture”), even the spy-movie feel of an Eric Dolphy ballad (“Just Above”). And, by the way, the catchy concept works out—A/B each pair for yourself.

via Apple Music

Tracklist

Credits