CURRAN & JON ROSE, ALVIN - Cafe Grand Abyss

""Jon and Alvin on terrifying form: Alvin spookily surefooted in his deployment of an often-counterintuitive palette of sounds, and Jon just brilliant. Living legends: Alvin recently left 80 behind, Jon is facing down 70. The two have known each other since 1985, when they were both living in Berlin, and they've worked together on and off ever since. On this CD they look back to their earlier careers, when they were gainfully employed in bread and butter club bands: Jon in the house band of Club Marconi in Sydney where, in addition to playing Italian favourites and film music, he backed funky soul singers and topless go-go troupes, and Alvin, who says: 'So embedded is the cocktail pianist in my music, there are times when I think in medium bounces, or up-2's, slow 4's or Viennese 3's with the accent on the delayed 1, offset by single triplet rest.' Curran doesn't scratch or filter his samples but takes them straight; it's the choice of the samples that leads away from the main path. Rose responds -- or ignores -- with regular and amplified tenor violins. And when Alvin reaches for the Shofar, Jon picks up his 3-metre drainpipe with strings. And did I mention the singing saw?"" - Rer Megacorp.