from The Seattle Times:
Simple or elaborate, this is what Anschell does best. In any given year, his arrangements or compositions might be on any one of a dozen albums, most not his own. His music even made its way to the television shows “The West Wing” and “The Wire.”
But for his latest album, “We Couldn’t Agree More,” released last month on Origin Records, Anschell didn’t arrange a single note. Every song is a standard, unrehearsed, with few details discussed in advance, and in many cases recorded in one take. Anschell called the album, recorded with saxophonist Brent Jensen, his most spontaneous and intimate. The two musicians were the only ones present at the recording session in a friend’s living room in Idaho. Anschell even mixed the album himself on his home computer.
It is the simplest project he’s ever done and perhaps the most revealing of his musical personality. He plays very little walking bass or stride, a left-handed style typical of a piano when played without a bass and drums. Anschell and Jensen don’t really take turns playing. Instead they constantly respond to each other, picking up on rhythmic riffs and turns of phrases.
Continue reading at The Seattle Times.