Tom Teasley/Dave Ballou: Lunch Break

TEASLEY MUSIC (RELEASED FEBRUARY 14, 2025

Percussionist Tom Teasley picked a perfect dance partner in trumpeter Dave Ballou for Lunch Break. The two dance through eleven tunes with the grace and ease of Astaire and Rogers. At times, they embrace each other’s melodic or rhythmic cues. The next minute they separate and dance to their own musical impulses only to come together for the final dip. Having performed everywhere from South America to Asia and the Middle East to New Zealand, Teasley brings an arsenal of percussion instruments and rhythms to the dance. Ballou brings his full array of flurries, shouts, smears and flourishes. Ballou’s distinctive intervals pirouette over Teasley’s Middle Eastern groove on “Tips in Baghdad.” The trumpeter lunges and twirls while Teasley creates a web of rhythms on the free sounding “Rush Hour.” On “When the Wind Cries,” Ballou weaves in and out of the meditative tune that features Teasley on kalimba. There is a well-choreographed call and response section on the straight-ahead “ Four on Six.” Teasley’s tabla rhythms embrace Ballou’s long tones on “Mop, Shake and Roll.” Ballou’s trumpet entwines nicely with Teasley’s Indian chant on “Riqq Talk.” Teasley dances alone on the boppish “For Max” and the hypnotic “Gratitude.” Teasley’s use of kalimba, shakers, cymbals, bells and wood blocks, not to mention a traditional drum set, provide the sparks for Ballou’s distinctive improvisations on Lunch Break. At the same time, Ballou’s use of intervals, shifts from lower to upper registers and his crisp to warm tone inspire Teasley to create layer upon layer of well-developed rhythms. Although this recording lacks the raw energy and freedom of Lester Bowie and Phillip Wilson’s classic late 1970 trumpet/percussion duo on Improvising Artists, it is refreshing to hear Teasley and Ballou dance their way through Lunch Break.

BOTTOM LINE: Having spent most of his career as a global music ambassador, percussionist Tom Teasley is a new name to me. However, with several outstanding recordings on the Steeplechase and Cleanfeed labels, I am well familiar with the modern sounds of trumpeter Dave Ballou. On Lunch Break, this percussion/trumpet duo explores the unique musical influences in which they specialize and come together to share.