Scott Tinkler & Simon Barker - Lost Thoughts (Kinmara, 2008) ****½

Since I listened to Australian trumpeter Scott Tinkler's "Backwards", I started looking for more of his material, and I bought this little gem, with Simon Barker on drums: a set of nine improvised pieces, ranging from three to fifteen minutes. In the genre, of trumpet-drums duets, this is surely one of the best you can get. Both musicians manage to keep the attention going, full of intensity and energetic interplay. Tinkler's playing is full-toned and warm, despite the adventurousness of his playing: a rare combination. To make things even more spectacular, Barker's drumming is a real treat, tribal, shamanistic, hypnotic, full of contrast, in sound often more with a rock attitude, if it were not for the rhythmic refinement, hard-hitting and subtle. He knows when to use silence too: another rare combination. So when these two guys play together, something happens: there is electricity in the air, tension, rhythm, wild excursions and more contemplative moments. Some moments are telepathic, others are unique. The highlights are the very long second track with the undecipherable title which is full of variation, and the wild seventh piece, "Diminished", with offers the fiercest clever drumming I've heard in a long time (or the cleverest fierce drumming if you want). No weak moments on this album, and both musicians give themselves to the full, technically and musically, emotionally and physically. Great.

© stef