Carol Liebowitz / Birgitta Flick .. CD release "Malita-Malika" .. June 2 concert in Stockholm

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Carol Liebowitz / Birgitta Flick Duo
CD Release Concert
Malita-Malika (Leo Records)
Sunday, June 2, 2019
@ Khimaira, Stockholm

it would be easy to mistakenly assume that parts of improvisations like "Moon" and "Jasmine" were written out. The title track actually was (it's one of Flick's), yet the playing is so in character with the composition that the dividing line between reading and improvising all but disappears. . . .There also are some standards in the mix, two of which are sung by Liebowitz. She does a lovely job with the Harry Warren/Al Dubin chestnut "September In the Rain" (which is introduced by a playful rendition of Billy Bauer's "Marionette"). But it's her powerfully emotional rendering of "You Don't Know What Love Is" that really makes the album.
—J.D. Considine, Editor's Pick, November 2018, Downbeat

A glorious album, exceptionally fascinating, pensive and reflectively poetic . . .
—Ken Cheetham, jazzviews.net

The clarity of the sound, the intelligence of the proposals, the balance between the instruments are the proven qualities of this meeting and the poetry that emanates from this pure line creates an authentic world of sound.
—Nicolas Dourlhès, citizenjazz.com

Here's a very unusual jazz CD. . . . And they are BRILLIANT. . . . It is both a sensual and an intellectual experience. In a strange way, they almost make you feel as if you were looking into their souls or psyches as they play. . . . Their sense of unity is so complete that you'd think they had been playing together for years rather than sporadically. . . . Overall, this is a marvelous recording, and I urge you to listen to it.
—Lynn René Bailey, artmusiclounge.wordpress.com

Flick's warm and woody sound contains something wild at its heart. . . . A storyteller of expressive power, she maps stories from the heart in elegant lines buzzing with imagination. . . . Liebowitz's touch—now delicate, now blunt, now muscular, now pensive—captures every nuance of feeling.
—Mel Minter, musically speaking

Full of dark, offbeat, frenetic angles and brighter, lyrical moments of uncommon, melodic grace – sometimes within the same piece — "Malita-Malika" is the fruit of their extraordinary chemistry.
—Jonathan Widran, theJWvibe

There are also two standards (sung with finesse by the pianist) including one paired with a theme of guitarist Billy Bauer, and a composition by Birgitta Flick that gives its title to this beautiful achievement. "Malita-Malika."
—Jean Buzelin, culturejazz.fr

MALITA-MALIKA was included in Hrayr Attarian's Top Ten Jazz Recordings in the 2018 NPR JAZZ CRITICS POLL.

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