““Ain’t nobody coming?” [Ali] said to Coltrane.
“No, it’s just you and me.”
“What are we playing? Is it fast? Is it slow?”
“Whatever you want it to be. Come on. I’m going to ring some bells.””
-Quoted by Ben Ratliff in Coltrane: The Story of a Sound.
John Coltrane’s sax-drums duo album with Rashied Ali, Interstellar Space, stands as a singular achievement in the history of free jazz. The duo’s restlessness, their commitment to musical exploration and the profound communication taking place between them would create a template that has animated the practice of free jazz to this day.
Stef Gijssels, in his 2007 post on this website, wrote the following about that combination of instruments:
“[It] offers a total freedom of interaction, but it's like poetry without rhyme, there is no comfort zone to fall back into, no safe haven, no safety net, it's swim or drown.”
I think any jazz musicians wanting to tackle the drums/sax duo format must be very brave indeed, knowing that a comparison to Interstellar Space is almost inevitable. But they would also realize the freedom of unfettered expression that comes with it. And great musicians would view that as an opportunity to create something new, to engage in a genuinely novel musical conversation. Best of all, we get to eavesdrop on that conversation.
I’ll always click on a drum/sax duo when I come across one on bandcamp. But I was especially happy to see this particular combo as I was familiar with both musicians and had very much appreciated earlier work of theirs. Both were in a trio album with Tim Berne, Poiēsis, one of the best albums of 2025. Drummer, percussionist Nava Dunkelman was also in a tremendous duo with violinist gabby fluke-mogul, titled Likht.Saxophonist Masayo Koketsu has a solo album, entirely on alto, called Ballade in which she plays jazz standards. She even covers Lover Man. (Seriously, I discovered this album in the course of writing this review and it’s exceptional. Do check it out.)
The first track here, 初雷–hatsurai, begins with a thunderburst from Koketsu. Dunkelman matches her intensity. Google Translate tells me the title means First Thunder. Yup. I’ve listened to this album a bunch of times now and it still snaps my head back. These musicians are serious and they want your attention. Both musicians genuinely bring thunder on this track.
There’s so much good music on this album, and what’s most impressive is the great variety of ideas to be found. The third track, 露の玉–tsuyu no tama, meaning Dewdrop Ball, is beautiful. Koketsu begins with lightning quick shards of notes with Dunkelman responding with bells. A reference to Interstellar Space? Then there’s a brief bit of Ayler and then the musicians are off to explore more new ideas.
The final and longest track 夕霧–yūgiri, meaning Evening Mist, is the best. It begins with plaintive playing from the saxophone with very light percussion. Then Koketsu’s playing gains in intensity and her lines become more complex. Dunkelman happily matches her and then takes over. Now she’s bringing the thunder and Koketsu again responds. Here, and throughout the album, these two musicians seem so in tune it’s a delight to listen to.
Possibly the most surprising thing about this album is the first sentence of the liner notes:
“Masayo Koketsu and Nava Dunkelman met for the first time in this studio session.”
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