Jazz
Imani Records · 23 October 2026
Caleb Wheeler Curtis and Jason Moran had already crossed paths in the studio back in 2018, when the pianist guested on “Freebird”, Walking Distance’s Charlie Parker tribute. “Incantation”, released by Imani Records on 23 October, brings them back together, this time as a duo with both names on the cover, six months after “Ritual”, the sextet album Curtis put out in April on Chill Tone Records.
It’s twelve tracks and just shy of an hour of music, recorded in a single day, 18 December 2025, at The Bridge Studio in Brooklyn. There’s no bass or drums: Moran plays piano; Curtis plays stritch – the straight alto sax christened by Rahsaan Roland Kirk – switching to soprano on three pieces and to trumpet on “Archaeology”. Curtis produced and edited it, and Dave Darlington mixed and mastered it at Bass Hit Recording in New York.
The material draws on both men’s catalogues. From Curtis there’s the new title track; “Ain’t No Storm”, which returns as a brief closing reprise; and two pieces from his trio Ember; from Moran, “Gangsterism on a River”, first heard on “Black Stars” (Blue Note, 2001), and “Restin’”. There are two jointly credited improvisations and three outside tunes: Arthur Blythe’s “Miss Nancy”, Noah Garabedian’s “Tiramisu for Two” and “Big Small” by Imani founder Orrin Evans. As Curtis puts it in the label notes: “There doesn’t need to be some overwrought concept. It needs just Jason’s sound and my sound, and the interaction between the two.”
Text by Aina Torrents