***1/2 Pat Martino

WE'LL ALWAYS BE TOGETHER

(32 Jazz)

This newly reissued 1976 collaboration between guitarist Pat Martino and pianist Gil Goldstein (here he's an electric pianist) is something of a cult classic as well as an anomaly among Martino's recordings from the period. Always a graceful player, he would typically dart over crisp, compelling rhythm sections; in this duo setting, however, the flame is low and the ruminations have a more spacious quality. Yet the music is never merely "pretty" (which is usually a euphemism for "enervated"). Martino is too intelligent a player to settle for pointless filigree, and it's a pleasure to hear him prod the petulant melody of "You Don't Know What Love Is," give just the right measure of dramatic pause to "Send In the Clowns," or bring to the forefront his unabashedly soulful side on "Willow Weep for Me." Goldstein has the difficult task of trying to coax warmth from a usually recalcitrant instrument, and he does a good job, keeping the comping soft and mellow, often sounding like a lightly treading organ. This is quiet gem from one of jazz's great underrated guitarists.

-- Richard C. Walls