SteepleChase debut album by piano/trumpet duo of Kirk Knuffke and Jesse Stacken interpreting tunes by Ellington and Monk recorded live (SCCD 31677 “Mockingbird”) prompted Derek Taylor of Master of a Small House to comment, “…They rightly take clever liberties with the tunes, …. Most importantly, they take their time with the pieces and that unhurried pace pays huge dividends in the amount of space it opens up for the repartee….. as Stacken notes in the notes, a few mistakes occur, but damn if they don’t matter a whit when the give and take that surrounds them is this good.”
Their second album here is dedicated to the compositions by Charles Mingus.
