Jeff Denson, Romain Pilon & Brian Blade - Between Two Worlds (2019)

'Between Two Worlds' features ten original compositions: five each by Denson and Pilon, most of them written especially for this album. That back-and-forth between their two compositional visions, along with Denson's bringing together of a great American musician with a great French one, 'with me in the middle, listening to these two monsters', gave the album its title. The music's sound is consistent across the album: complex but highly expressive post-bop, guitar-trio jazz. Yet for the most part, it's apparent at a glance which composer wrote which tune. Pilon's titles are in French ('Sucrée,' 'En Trois Temps,' 'Azur'); 'Generations' seems an exception at first glance, but the spelling and meaning are the same in French as in English; 'Madrid,' whose language is neither of the above, is also by Pilon. 'Song of a Solitary Crow,' 'Nostalgic Farewell,' 'Listen Up,' 'Lost and Found' and 'Between Two Worlds' are Denson's. As Denson had hoped, the connection between the three musicians proved rock-solid. 'That's not always the case,' he says. 'You can have really monster players, but have it not really work. It's just like any human interaction: it's all about chemistry. It's one thing to make everything work and have everybody sound good, but there's an inexplicable magic that can happen between players, and that was very clearly there for us. This was a totally magical, exciting experience doing this trio album.'