Steve Slagle and Bill O’Connell ....

The collaboration of Steve Slagle and Bill O’Connell here is greater than the sum of their individual performances. Together, they have created the “Power of Two.”

The original inspiration for this recording began in August 2014 shortly after the untimely death of the great pianist Kenny Drew Jr. at the age of 56. Steve played and recorded with Kenny Drew Jr. with the Mingus Big Band and Kenny was his pianist on “Reincarnation”, a 1994 recording of the Steve Slagle Quartet. They were friends for many years and had traveled the world together playing music. On the day of his passing Steve composed a tribute to his friend titling it simply ‘KD JR.’. He sent me the sheet music for this song in mid-August 2014 and then called me to urge Panorama Records to produce the recording.

Steve knew right away that he wanted to do a recording with just piano and that pianist Bill O’Connell would be his first choice: a pianist with a voice of his own and the ability to play fully and creatively, alone. Also Steve and Bill have a long history of working together in many larger groups and wanted to convey this music to listeners in as pure a form as possible. Steve then chose 9 songs to accompany ‘KD JR.’ and also in the recording studio they created one piece together. Part of what makes this recording a transcending musical performance is the collaboration of Steve and Bill on each track and the mood that they collectively set throughout. Also this is some of Steve’s best flute work yet on any recording.

What sounds effortless is a level of musicianship that only a few achieve after decades of work in their profession: hearing the music, listening to each other and inspiring each other to create and play music that never quite existed like this before—and capturing it in a recording. We hope you enjoy and get the musical message that is within ‘The Power of Two’. - Jack Zulack, Executive Producer, Panorama Records

Artist Websites:
www.steveslagle.com
www.billoconnell.net/dates.htm

from: http://www.cdbaby.com/cd/steveslaglebilloconnell