Ingrid Laubrock & Aki Takase Kasumi

Jazz as the art of dialogue: two of the great musicians of today's jazz from different continents and generations make music sparkle.

For the third installment of Ingrid Laubrock's duo series on Intakt (following Kasumi with Aki Takase and Blood Moon with Kris Davis) Ingrid Laubrock and Andy Milne develop their own sounds in a common sound world. Fragile is characterized by the great empathy that unites these two artists. The music, which is both stirring and soothing, confident and intuitive, is deeply expressive and inventive. “Laubrock’s growth as an original writer and improviser has been marked in the last two decades, during which time she has led several bands, notably Sleepthief and Anti-House, and proved adept at creating for large ensembles and small groups that revealed her own individuality, mostly within avant-garde traditions. As for Milne he has more than fulfilled the promise he showed as a member of Steve Coleman’s Metrics in the early ‘90s. The Laubrock-Milne duo has a balance between the drive and momentum of large ensembles and the stillness and engagement with silence and space of smaller groups. Making music that releases a form of energy, something that pulses with life, while also drawing down into intimacy, suggesting feelings of tenderness or uncertainty, is no mean feat”, writes Kevin Le Gendre in the liner notes.