Music appreciation has become so effortless that I’m inclined to resent the artists responsible for Ones & Twos. Accessing the gimmick of the new Blue Note Records release required the help of a friend kind enough to create bespoke files for me.
Alluding to the DJ reference in the title of his latest album, Gerald Clayton explains it’s “a record where the A side can be played simultaneously with the B side… you hear two separate pieces at the same time.”
Each side of the twelve-track album is meant to be heard separately and simultaneously. The music in the latter experience is obviously twice as dense as the detached tracks. Remarkably, it succeeds both ways.
The ruse may not have intrigued me had not several of my favorite musicians been involved. Marquis Hill, Elena Pinderhughes, Joel Ross, Kendrick Scott and the brilliant trickster Kassa Overall have created many of the most exciting sounds of the past decade. Ones & Twos is no exception.