HOWARD RILEY & KEITH TIPPETT – In Focus – LP – AFF137

Based on their respective solo styles, it seems that Riley takes the improvisational lead on the aptly named In Focus: While still clearly an improvisational album, these two long pieces have clear beginnings, middles, and ends, with a traceable musical arc throughout. “In Focus, Pt. 1” is the more relaxed of the pair, with some long, bop-oriented sections that almost sound like Thelonious Monk performing in duet with Bill Evans. “In Focus, Pt. 2” is where the two really let off, featuring some prepared piano work by Tippett that makes his instrument sound like a Balinese gamelan constructed largely out of the leavings of an abandoned junkyard. The climax of the piece features a positively crazed, Cecil Taylor-like Riley solo set against a racket that sounds like Tippett is playing the strings of his piano with an un-rosined violin bow.

Stewart Mason / AllMusic