For Living Lovers - Natural Name - COMPACT DISCS [CD]

As a musician begins to develop, he or she is essentially a product of influences. Musical syntax is developed by study, repetition, and memorization. Often a musician becomes a life-long recycler of artifice, never truly finding their unique musical identity or language. Choosing their authentic selves and inhabiting their own sound world through their collaboration has been the essential goal for guitarist Brandon Ross and acoustic bass guitarist Stomu Takeishi. Their duo, For Living Lovers, returns with Natural Name, a moving display of their interlocking values and incredible interplay.Ross has been on a path to musical clarity from his earliest days as a player. Receiving early encouragement from legends like Ornette Coleman and Archie Shepp, Ross was counseled to realize that he possessed the tools necessary to be a musician and what he really needed to do was to remove himself from the distractions of influence or striving for approval. He needed to define his own voice.The guitarist found an equal partner and communicator in Takeishi whom he recruited as a member of Henry Threadgill's Make a Move band in the mid-1990s. The duo created For Living Lovers two decades ago using Ross' compositions and adopting a concept informed by Threadgill's unique intervallic organization system. The system yields what might be called a pan-tonal structure for composition and developing improvisation, both highly specific yet inspiringly unbounded by diatonicism.The music that For Living Lovers creates is unique in sound, structure, and texture. Performing on acoustic string instruments designed by world renowned luthier Steve Klein, the duo's sound is natural, resonant, and full of personality. The forms of Ross' original compositions are built to provide a context for him and Takeishi to create and develop music in the moment, eluding staid responses and reflexive patterns. A