Joel Forrester/Phillip Johnston: Live At The Hillside Club
Released in 2011 on Asynchronous Records
Live At The Hillside Club is a live recording of the duo of the co-leaders of The Microscopic Septet, Joel Forrester (piano) and Phillip Johnston (soprano sax) on a US West Coast tour in 2010, playing a combination of Joel Forrest and Thelonious Monk tunes. Forrester and Johnston have been playing together as a duo since the early 70s, about 35 years at the time of this recording.
“There is a certain sparkling, effervescent quality to this music, an elegance rich and satisfying like a great scene from a Woody Allen movie when they were still worth seeing. Mr. Johnston is a fine soloist who brings poignancy and poise to these songs. Mr. Forrester’s playing is refined yet economical, sounding as if he is drawing from a wealth of styles and traditions. Even the four Monk covers are done with both craft and reverence and filled with little surprising twists. . .This disc is one of the most laid back and enchanting offerings we’ve listed in recent memory.”
– Bruce Lee Gallanter, Downtown Music Gallery
Album review on Jazz Times