The first thing you notice about this recording is how free and open-ended the music sounds. This was not intentional. In all of our years of playing together, we have never uttered one word with regards to what the final outcome should be. It was obvious from our first duo encounter that there was an inherent chemistry that required us to do only one thing: stay out of the way of the music.

And this is what we attempted to do: Turn off the critical thinking side of our brains and let our imaginations roam free.

All of the pieces are first and only takes. In fact, I'm not even sure if we listened back to the takes while in the studio. The recording engineer essentially rolled the tape and we went wherever the music took us. When the final destination is not pre-determined the music typically ends up exactly where it is supposed to be. Therefore, over analyzing the performances is not warranted. In fact, if Jean-Michel started a tune, he had no idea if I even knew it, and vice versa. And this is what makes Magic Circle exciting, scary, and beautiful. We really never know what's going to happen. I'm happy to say that 99 percent of the time, it usually ends up ok--better than ok, actually.

What we do is a musical conversation that is at times serious, crazy, intimate, funny, intellectual, or just plain old weird. Whatever mood or emotion that you hear being conveyed, is what we were feeling at that moment. And these moods and emotions are not guaranteed to surface again.

This recording contains seven standards and two improvised originals. We tend to cover tunes that many would consider "played to death," giving the listener a familiar point of reference through which to understand the uniqueness of our interpretations. I can say with confidence and humility that our versions are like no other--something that makes me proud, and at times, a bit nervous.

At the time of this recording, I had just finished my third solo saxophone CD, The Art of the Soprano, Vol. 1, which is probably why I had the songs "In a Mellow Tone" and "In a Sentimental Mood" in my musical consciousness. Even my sonic embellishments of "Ask Me Now" and "Misterioso" were inspired by the arrangements I did of them on my CD, Monk Abstractions. With all of the aforementioned pieces, I basically took what was originally created for my solo saxophone format, added the brilliance of Jean-Michel Pilc, and Magic Circle was born.


So please enjoy the recording, and more importantly, enjoy the journey!