From the opening bars of 'Katerina' - opening track on 'Keeping Company', the new album from Bill Laurance and Michael League - there is a sense of global musical collaboration that brings chills and delight in equal measure.
The duo of Bill Laurance (piano) and Michael League (oud, fretless bass, vocals) came by musical chance, developing through the creation of Snarky Puppy in 2004 and now this wonderful new album from ACT Music.
Laurance seems to have returned to his place at the piano (although he's always fab on electronic keyboards in a different context), while League darts effortlessly between fretless acoustic bass guitar and
oud. Take a listen to Stonemaker to hear both in the raw: the rich oud and piano combination seems to work particularly brilliantly. Bill says: “The oud in itself has a specific associative space. When I compose, my aim is to transport the listener. That works with the sound of the oud. It's not a guitar, it has something exotic about it. It's a canvas on which you can paint a lot of things. On the first album [Where You Wish You Were, 2023] , we discussed whether Michael should play a fretless nylon string guitar. He tried it out, but it didn't produce the same emotion as the oud. Due to the oud being fretless, it can access a whole new world of expression and created new colours for the duo. That fascinated us.”
Recorded in Spain this summer, all songs were written by the duo, with the exception of Africa, written by Rico Rodriguez arranged by them: the piano opening setting the tone before League's warm and resonant bass joins in. Finishing the album with the traditional Turkish melody Iki Keklik Bir Kayada shows something more of what these two musicians create together, with Laurance's piano and League's oud and vocals demonstrating the true collaboration that lasts until the piano chords finally fade to silence.
The duo of Bill Laurance (piano) and Michael League (oud, fretless bass, vocals) came by musical chance, developing through the creation of Snarky Puppy in 2004 and now this wonderful new album from ACT Music.
Laurance seems to have returned to his place at the piano (although he's always fab on electronic keyboards in a different context), while League darts effortlessly between fretless acoustic bass guitar and
oud. Take a listen to Stonemaker to hear both in the raw: the rich oud and piano combination seems to work particularly brilliantly. Bill says: “The oud in itself has a specific associative space. When I compose, my aim is to transport the listener. That works with the sound of the oud. It's not a guitar, it has something exotic about it. It's a canvas on which you can paint a lot of things. On the first album [Where You Wish You Were, 2023] , we discussed whether Michael should play a fretless nylon string guitar. He tried it out, but it didn't produce the same emotion as the oud. Due to the oud being fretless, it can access a whole new world of expression and created new colours for the duo. That fascinated us.”
Recorded in Spain this summer, all songs were written by the duo, with the exception of Africa, written by Rico Rodriguez arranged by them: the piano opening setting the tone before League's warm and resonant bass joins in. Finishing the album with the traditional Turkish melody Iki Keklik Bir Kayada shows something more of what these two musicians create together, with Laurance's piano and League's oud and vocals demonstrating the true collaboration that lasts until the piano chords finally fade to silence.
Keeping Company straddles every musical genre simply and stylishly: definitely one of my top ten albums of 2024.
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