The Hersch/Spalding duo were back at the Village Vanguard in January, to celebrate the release of this album. Spalding eschews the bass, and vocalises alongside Hersch's piano and the result sounds uncannily like a reincarnation of pianist/singer Rose Murphy, the Chi-Chi Girl of the 1940s and 1950s, who had a similarly high-pitched voice sung to her own ompah-ish accompaniment on piano – at the back of my mind I was mischievously expecting, hoping even, they to do Murphy's big hit of the 1950s, ’Busy Line.’

A pity they didn't – this set can be a bit humourless, ‘Dream of Monk’ has Spalding's wordless improvisations edging ever closer to Murphy's scat, minus the mischievous ‘Chi-Chi’ interpolations, only Murphy didn’t go on for so long. These are two fine musicians, albeit Hersch's accompaniment often seems like a contestant in a three-legged race, and Spalding's Murphy incarnation make this album very much an acquired taste; the question is, whether you think this is a taste worth acquiring.