Moraz/Bruford – Music for Piano and Drums (1983) Review | Five Percent of Cans and Brahms
Kronomyth 6.0: The Yesfugees.
I’ve been known to malign this album on occasion, expecting as I did some kind of celestial alignment between the two former Yes-men, only to discover an album of largely improvisatory jazz. Maybe you have less invested in these things, in which case good on you. (I initially typed “food on you” by accident but, you know what, food on you too.) Bill Bruford is one of my favorite drummers. Patrick Moraz is, if not one of my favorite keyboardists, a significant talent nonetheless. His duet with Steve Howe on “Beginnings” gets me every time. Unfortunately, no such magic happens here. Moraz arrives with a handful of melodies that immediately recall Chick Corea (Children’s Concerto, Blue Brains, Hazy), Bruford provides rolls and thumps to punctate the pieces, but the two players rarely click. The low point of Music for Piano and Drums occurs during the two clearly improvised pieces, Living Space and Any Suggestions. I kid you not, a pair of children with no musical training probably could have produced something more interesting. They are the exception, but you’ll find flashes of that directionless energy in smaller amounts on most of these songs. Neither Bruford nor Moraz have spent their careers courting commercial tastes, and I admire them for following their own muse, but they could have used a map on Music for Piano and Drums. For reasons known only to them and the A&R team at EG Records, which I’m pretty sure at this point consisted of autistic monkeys, the pair released a follow-up album a few years later called Flags that repeated the exercise. I’ve read positive accounts of this album from jazz critics, but those people wouldn’t know a naked emperor if he sat on their face and teabagged them. And thus ends another of my classy jazz reviews…
The Product
A1. Children’s Concerto (4:53)
A2. Living Space (Patrick Moraz/Bill Bruford) (3:52)
A3. Any Suggestions (Patrick Moraz/Bill Bruford) (5:37)
A4. Eastern Sundays (6:48)
B1. Blue Brains (4:48)
B2. Symmetry (3:40)
B3. Galatèa (5:24)
B4. Hazy (6:22)
All compositions by Patrick Moraz unless noted.
CD reissue bonus tracks
9. Blue Brains (live)
10. Flags (live)|
11. Hazy (live)
The Players
Bill Bruford (drums), Patrick Moraz (piano). Produced by Bill Bruford and Patrick Moraz. Engineered and mixed by Barry Radman.
The Pictures
Sleeve design by Geoff Halpin and Jon Barraclough. Rear cover photograph by Jon Barraclough. Cover painting (“Blue Brains”) by Ralph Augsburger.
The Plastic
Released on elpee and cassette in 1983 in the UK and the US (Editions EG, EGED/EGEDC 33) and Japan (Polydor, 28MM-0338).
- Re-issued on expanded, remastered compact disc on September 27, 2004 in the UK (Winterfold, BBWF001CD) with 3 bonus tracks and a bonus disc, An Introduction to Summerfold.
- Re-issued on expanded, remastered compact disc in Japan (Arcangelo, ARC-7293) with 3 bonus tracks.
