DUO – Jason Foureman & Stephen Anderson

There is no place to hide in a DUO, so there is a unique honesty in the connection with each musician and the audience. When setting out to do this recording Anderson (piano) and Foureman (bass) wanted the audience to feel this music as genuinely as possible, no overdubs, no fixes – this is the REAL DEAL…!

”Musical trust took center stage as the duo took their intense compositions, incredible interplay and chemistry – to create something special that the listener will feel. The recording just flowed into place, a feeling of how it ‘should’ be…” 

JASON FOUREMAN is an in-demand bassist and educator in the Triangle area. He teaches at UNC-Chapel Hill and NC State University where he gives private lessons and coaches various ensembles. Jason has been the bassist for the North Carolina Jazz Repertory Orchestra (NCJRO) under director Jim Ketch since 2008. He also conducts the youth big bands at the Durham Jazz Workshop.

Award-winning, STEPHEN ANDERSON, composer and pianist, has had works performed by the West Point Military Academy Band, the Dallas Chamber Orchestra, Crested Butte Chamber Orchestra,UNC Symphony Orchestra, Carolina Choir and Chamber Orchestra, Montclair State Wind Symphony, UNC Wind Ensemble, the West Point Jazz Knights, the North Carolina Jazz Repertory Orchestra, the One O’ Clock Lab Band, Two O’clock Lab band band, North Carolina Central University Percussion Ensemble, UNC-Charlotte Percussion Ensemble, UNC Wind Ensemble, Duo XXI, and a film score broadcast nationally on PBS. His “Nation Degeneration” (SUMMIT, 2010) and “Forget Not” (SUMMIT, 2008) trio CDs each received 4½ stars (out of 5) from the All Music Guide

REVIEW:

JASON FOUREMAN & STEPHEN ANDERSON/Duo:  Just bass and piano, complete takes and a set card from as varied a collection of writers as you can imagine.  It should feel like a recital but it doesn’t.  Solid stuff from two pros hiding out in North Carolina that the rest of the country might never run into, a wrong that’s remedied here.  These two jazzbos make all the sound they need to make their point and all things point to the good.  A solid, low key outing that’s not cocktail jazz but certainly would make one in your hand quite welcome.

-Chris Spector for Midwest Review

REVIEW:

I’ve always been a sucker for duet recordings, as there’s just nowhere to hide. This one by bassist Jason Foureman and pianist Stephen Anderson is a lyrical delight, conversant, swinging and thoughtfully melodic.

Anderson’s touch sounds like he drank deep from the waters of Bill Evans, with a pretty collection of ripples gurgling along Foureman’s bass on Steve Swallow’s “Falling Grace” while there’s also a garnish of Errol Garner on the cheerful intro to “That‘s My Desire”. His fingers stretch out on the stride to bopper “Reet’s Neet” and has an uptown feel as he prances over Foureman on the swinging “To Each His Own.” Anderson takes some time out front as well, stating the melody with style on the sensuous “Caminhos Cruzados”, giving some nice harmonic contrast to Chick Corea’s  bopper “The One Step” as well. Fragile sparkles dot the midnight sky on “The Touch Of Your Lips” and sophisticated elegance is well dressed on “Ultra Blues” as each partner knows when to lead and when to sit back. Excellent discussions.

-George Harris for Jazz Weekly