Pop and Jazz Reviews : Improbable Pairing Pays Solid Dividends

The teaming of Roger Kellaway and Red Mitchell, which produced a rare evening of near-magical music Friday at the Jazz Bakery, is one of the most improbable partnerships in jazz.

This is a strange case of role reversal: Mitchell studied piano for nine years before switching to bass, while Kellaway was a New York bass player, then built a reputation as a formidable pianist.

They are an odd couple. Mitchell is mild mannered and given to self-effacing humor, whereas Kellaway’s sometimes aggressive style involves everything from wild chord clusters to fierce dissonances that even make use of his elbows smashing against the keyboard.

What they have in common is their mutual pleasure in collaborating. Both explore the entire range of their instruments; Mitchell’s use of chords, glissandos, fast moving triplet runs and constant melodic storytelling is the perfect match for Kellaway’s unpredictable jumps from two-fisted chording to stride to single note lines of contrasting simplicity. The total spontaneity of these seasoned artists, especially when they were alternating ideas in solo flurries, was so masterful that it elicited whoops of joy from the audience.

This meeting of masterminds will be preserved next week when they reunite for an album. With Mitchell finally back on home turf after living 24 years in Stockholm, one can only hope that their partnership will be more than a sometime thing.