Sardinian trumpeter Paolo Fresu's partnership with Italian bandoneonist Daniele di Bonaventura follows a noble line in European jazz of duos involving members of the accordion family.

And as with the pairing of English saxophonist Iain Ballamy with Norwegian virtuoso Stian Carstensen and French bass master Renaud Garcia-Fons with Jean-Louis Matinier, you can expect the tonal and dynamic range of an orchestra and a little more in terms of personality and repertoire. Fresu's approach is informed as much by Italian folk and opera singers as it is by his hero, Miles Davis, and both his trumpet and flugelhorn sing here, at times becoming almost choral with di Bonaventura's church organ-like swells. They can be playful as well as soulfully profound, incorporating Puccini's Quando Me'n Vò alongside improvised sound sculptures and using their respective instruments as lightly effective percussion, but the overriding quality is superbly conversational whether they're drawing on Breton, Chilean or Brazilian sources or their own inventions such as Fresu's gorgeous title track.

Rob Adams