Andrew McCormack/Jason Yarde

Places and Other Spaces, Edition, *****

Pianist Andrew McCormack and saxophonist Jason Yarde's acclaimed 2009 debut ( My Duo) showed a unique meeting of minds. Their new CD is even better. Apart from superbly improvised interplay, it's distinguished by the quality and diversity of their compositions. Full of character, they range from the knotty tartness of Dark Too Brightand Hill Walking on Tynerside, to the sheer beauty of Spanish Princessand Flowers for Japan, to the quirkily boppish D-Townand the pensive, atmospheric Epilogue and Other Spaces. Every performance, including the sole standard (a marvellously re-thought Embraceable You), combines formal elegance and lyric passion. Throughout, McCormack accompanies Yarde's passionate, lemony eloquence on soprano or alto with uncanny prescience, while both solo with a composer's sense of structure and contrast. see editionrecords.com