Taborn's recent astounding solo piano gig at the Vortex confirmed what many of us have argued for some time: he is one of the most gifted composer-improvisers to have emerged in creative music over the last couple of decades. He has had a long-running association with another excellent exponent of the same instrument, Vijay Iyer, and this piano duet is a notable addition to their respective discographies. With the talent of each artist well established, the question is whether they are able to successfully combine their resources. The music mostly says yes. The fluidity of the phrasing, the unbroken momentum, the kind of rhythmic ‘streaming’ that has significant precedents in the likes of Cecil Taylor (also honoured by the title ‘Luminous Brew’, a reference to his ‘It's In The Brewing Luminous’) and Jaki Byard, is well to the fore on several compositions, and the effect of the rhythmic whirlpools is striking. Furthermore, there are flashes of pithy harmonic creativity, whereby strangely shaped motifs, skating on atonality, punctuate songs in unexpected places. On occasion, the players nonetheless run aground as they almost fall prey to their own virtuosity, meaning that some of the interactions crackle with skilful execution but break into too many satellites of ideas rather than sustaining a cogent narrative that really engages. It's not so much overplaying as over-ideaing. And yet, the many moments of beauty are quite captivating. Several of the gentle, almost sparse openings are a reminder of Taborn and Iyer's advanced powers of restraint, while the juddering, menacing ostinato of ‘Kairos’ shows an ability to give their own meaning to the art and science of groove.