Album Review: Pathways from Dave Anderson and Mike Wingo

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Album:  Pathways
Artists:  Dave Anderson and Mike Wingo
Label:  Self-Released
Website:  https://daveandersonmusic.com/home

Pathways, the sophomore release from the team of pianist Dave Anderson and percussionist Mike Wingo  is laden with contemporary jazz passages.  Anderson's flights on the keys travel into ethereal planes as the flexing rhythmic patterns of Wingo's percussion provide a warmth berth for the euphoric jaunts.  They produce a spellbinding harmony through a steady flow of improvisations and structured motifs. 

 
Their track "The Leprechaun's Jam" is a melodic fusion of bongo-style beats and chamber music-inspired phrasing.  The pairing of these two voices is deeply magnetic and charmingly compatible.  The dialogue formed between Anderson and Wingo through "Lament" has a natural fluidity, part sobbing and part elevating.  The prismatic facets of Anderson's keys illuminating "Perspective" have a calming flicker that changes to fidgety shuffles along "Milestones," a contemporary interpretation of Miles Davis's classic work by that title.
 
The reflective mood portrayed in "Minor Motion" demonstrates Anderson's astute dexterity to shift seamlessly between moving slowly and rapidly as he rides the waves of his inner voice.  Wingo's glistening chimes and percussive beats support Anderson's improvised excursions and wistful meanders into melodic vistas.  The solemn ambience of "Mindful" displays Anderson's talent for soft promenades while "Joy Ride" showcases Wingo's skill to form syncopated beats that bend and flex with a winsome suppleness.
 
All compositions with the exception of "Milestones" are penned by Dave Anderson.  The pair's thoughtful musings and harmonious communication display a pleasing compatibility.  Pathways, which follows the duo's debut release Conversations, builds on the duo's like-minded instincts for making sonic passages that touch the listener's senses with a positive charge.
 
Musicians:
Dave Anderson - piano
Mike Wingo - percussion


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