Alan Broadbent is one of New Zealand's favorite musical sons and perhaps the most well-known and multi-talented of them all. Many are familiar with his arranging and conducting for Sir Paul McCartney, Diana Krall, Pat Metheny and Michael Bublé. Others may know Broadbent has received 8 Grammy nominations and won 2 Grammy Awards for Best Orchestral Arrangement Accompanying a Vocal, one for Natalie Cole and one for Shirley Horn. On Like Minds, Broadbent takes a seat on the piano bench for his third Savant recording with his trio featuring the great bassist Harvie S and the colorful drumming of Billy Mintz.

Kenny Barron, whose duets with tenor great Stan Getz rank among the greatest achievements in that format, has recorded only a handful of duo albums with bassists. One of them, his 1986 encounter with Harvie S, Now Was the Time, came out almost by accident, years after it was recorded. (It was discovered among Harvie S’ belongings and released in 2008.) A mere five years later, in time for Barron’s 70th birthday, Witchcraft arrives as a rewarding sequel.
S’s melodic and temperate bass skates like Sonja Henie while Barron dances like Astaire on graceful tunes like “Deep Night” and “Witchcraft.” They pull an obscure Ellington piece such as “Wig Wise” and make you wonder why you’ve never heard it before as they play with it like a cat with a ball of string…