Dual Identity

With their passion, the extremely personal voice in their playing, the asymmetric, skipping beats and an unrelenting drive, Mahanthappa and Lehman would fit perfectly in a Charlie Mingus jazz workshop. Indeed, their compositions exhibit an affinity with the suite-like pieces by Mingus, their characteristics being rhythmic exchanges, strong melodic lines, lyrical reverie, voluptuous group explosions, the interplay of question and answer. Once again, Dual Identity has us catching our breath. The adventurous, energetic and inventive musical discourse is built up around miniatures with a rich range of colour and with a very particular atmosphere, language and sound. The intense, gliding unison playing of the alto saxophonists goes beyond the sublime. The unique timbre and clear logic that each member of the group brings to the music makes it, in its totality, a bewitching delight for the audience. A flexible show that, at the same time, radiates a salutary calm. Crazy! The fact that the musicians constantly have to question their place within the group determines the identity of Dual Identity, which is reminiscent of the dual identity expressed in 'Unsettling America: An Anthology of Contemporary Multicultural Poetry' by the Libanese-American poet Sam Hamod.