1984 · Album
Double, Double You
Recorded May 1983 · ECM · Produced by Manfred Eicher
Wheeler and Brecker in Conversation
A bright, energetic quintet date that sounds nothing like ECM's reputation for introspection and silence.
Double, Double You opens with Kenny Wheeler's flugelhorn and Mike Brecker's tenor sax trading ideas over a propulsive rhythm section — John Taylor on piano, Dave Holland on bass, Jack DeJohnette on drums. The sound is warm and buoyant, full of light and quick harmonic movement. This is Wheeler working at his most confident, leading a group that listens hard to one another without fussing. The six original compositions move between brisk, uptempo heads and moments where the band settles into a groove, but there is no drift or self-indulgence here.
What makes this record distinct in Wheeler's ECM catalog is exactly what AllMusic reviewer Scott Yanow noted: it avoids the label's clichés. The horns' interplay on "Three for D'reen" shows real conversation, not parallel soloing. "Blue for Lou" gives Holland space for a phenomenal bass solo — one of the record's high points. "Foxy Trot," stretching to fourteen minutes, lets all five players demonstrate why this chemistry matters: no one overplays, the drum solo near the end notwithstanding. Leonard Feather, reviewing for the Los Angeles Times, praised the provocative originals and the collective power of the rhythm section, though he docked a star for an unnecessary closing drum solo — a fair quibble that doesn't diminish what comes before it.
This is a peak-period Wheeler recording, recorded in May 1983 and released the following year. It finds him secure in his voice as a composer and leader, working with two of the finest players of the decade. If you know Wheeler only through his later work or his Blue Note records, start here.
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