Travis Laplante & Peter Evans

Secret Meeting

BY Nilan PereraPublished Mar 30, 2016

6
The state of virtuosity these days has been pushed into a state of critical mass. There are many musicians out there who have a firm grip on nearly everything technical that can be done on their instrument and a lot of it may be the result of an increase of support from a multiplicity of schools. But, "Can you play the blues?," or rather, can you be musically coherent? Well, that's the million dollar question, isn't it?
 
This release features Travis Laplante (tenor saxophone) and Peter Evans (trumpet); both perform from a broad palette of sounds. The music ranges from drum-like pops to farts to whispers to Coltrane, like sheets of notes executed with blistering speed and precision. The amount of information is staggering and the ride is quite thrilling.
 
The format, being a duet, has implications of conversation, which is admirably executed in a balance of phrases as well as some really amazing high speed jousts. This release will blow away a lot of people by virtue of sheer intensity.
 
However, the topics of conversation between the two do not vary significantly in the pieces presented, and in that respect, it's much less satisfying than it could have been overall.
(NNA Tapes)

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