Oxford pianist Hawkins and Chicagoan cellist Reid have had a simpatico musical partnership for many years, sharing stages with the likes of Nicole Mitchell, and this duet recording makes good on the chemistry with a wide ranging programme of jointly written originals and covers. Indeed, the duo investigates composition and improvisation as part of a continuum of ideas, thoughts and feelings that can move stealthily from frivolity to gravitas. Electric-eel energy and great attention to detail marks several of the pieces, and the blend of Hawkins' pattering rhythms and Reid's scarpering pizzicato and glissando on the wonderfully jaunty ‘Danced Together’ is a highpoint in this regard, an example of how to drive a song forward all the while producing twists and turns on the narrative course.

On the other hand there is deeply moving version of Muhal Richard Abrams' ‘Peace On You, which impresses for the expressive but very contained performance of the players, both of them keeping a tight grip on the beckoning melody, with Reid's earthy bass notes bolstering the textural palette without swamping it. Her solo, with its incisive rhythmic flurries, is excellent. That tribute to the AACM legend is matched by a reprise of Albert Ayler (Hs Life Was Too Short)’, a song by another alumnus, Leroy Jenkins, that is full of folkish sorrowfulness. Other originals such as ‘Serene and Playful’ broaden the stylistic content further, making the point that the border between mainstream jazz, avant-garde and contemporary classical music can be crossed to good effect by artists, such as these, who have discipline and daring.