The 'Arte Del Duo' of Mili Bermejo and Dan Greenspan on Ediciones Pentagrama is Intoxicating [REVIEW]

 One voice…one bass…and the melodies linger on. Arte Del Duo—on Mexico’s Ediciones Pentagrama label—contains 12 mysteriously beautiful duet tracks between vocalist Mili Bermejo and bassist Dan Greenspan.

Bermejo, a professor at Boston’s Berklee College of Music, was born in Buenos Aries and raised in Mexico City. Greenspan, from Connecticut, was a classical cellist who fell in love with the bass, Bermejo and music from Argentina. The couple left Boston to grow their own food, make their own clothing, bake their own bread and make their own music in a remote rural area of New Hampshire.

Borne from a series of gigs at The Lilypad in Cambridge Massachusetts, the material is as remote as their current environment. They set music ("Decima Muerte") to the poetry of Xavier Villarrutiga [1903-1950]. They tackle a 13th Century poem with music ("Las Orillas Del Mar") by professor Hafez Modirzadeh (San Francisco State University). The only familiar melody is Michel Legrand’s 1968 stateside hit “Windmills Of Your Mind,” but sung in Spanish.

Argentina figures prominently as well. “Cambalache” is a classic tango wherein Greenspan picks up his bow. “Candombe para Gardel” is in tribute to Carlos Gardel [1890-1935], the actor/composer. It all ends with a nod to Ruben Rada, the Afro-Uruguayan percussionist.

Through it all, the tone is smoke-lit, like listening to beat poetry in 1950s coffee houses. You almost want to snap your fingers and read a Kerouac novel while it’s playing. I’m sure that was not their intent but the totality of its pleasures are unlike anything else you’re bound to hear these days.
One voice. One bass. Think about it.

TagsMili Bermejo, Dan Greenspan, REVIEW, Ediciones Pentagrama