Bone Bells is the third recording by Swiss pianist Sylvie Courvoisier and American guitarist Mary Halvorson. By dint of a heavy-for-jazz touring schedule, the New York-based duo has evolved from the nascent notion that the partnership might be a good idea (they each showed up to their first session with tunes that the other had never heard) into a cohesive, mutually respectful unit with a voice of its own and a unique improvisational chemistry. There may be only two of them, but they’re a hell of a band.
The album’s eight compositions are split evenly between the two players, each of whom writes with the other’s strengths in mind. Consider the title track, which was penned by Halvorson. It uses Courvoisier’s classical chops to establish mood so stately and solemn that you suspect that legs are being pulled. But that cadence also provides a robust platform for each to elaborate upon the music and complicate the aura, so that the music becomes more mysterious as it goes along. Courvoisier is equally conscious of her partner’s strengths. Witness how she exploits Halvorson’s ability to step in and out of time to branch away from the theme of “Nags Head Valse” again and again without ever losing the plot.
None of the tunes are particularly lengthy (at 6:31, the opening title track is longest), but each is full of event. This results in music that invites the listener to return to Bone Bells again and again, accumulating new questions with each successive spin. [Pyroclastic]
—Bill Meyer
