HAPPYDARKBLUE

Good luck trying to find any information about the debut album by this unique ensemble from southern Russia: I have tried, and failed. But one fact should be obvious: bandleader Yaroslav Borisov has to one of the more exciting pianists at work today, in his or any other country. And the guy behind the drum kit (unidentified here, but probably Alexander Bityutskikh, the credited drummer on every subsequent Happy 55 album) has enough stamina to match him note for note and rhythm for rhythm.

This first album is a (more or less) unplugged piano and drum session: in effect a percussion duet, with energy to spare. But how to define the music...is it Modern Jazz? Post-Modern Classical? Off-the-wall Avant-Something Else..? Or is this one of those groups that defies easy classification and exists in a pigeonhole of its own design?

The performances are attractively over-caffeinated, if somewhat exhausting to sit through over the album's 46-total minutes. It isn't until the next-to-next-to-last track ("First Ray of the Sun") that Borisov gives his overworked piano a rest and fires up the synthetic strings, and the unexpected spacedrift is a relief after all the busy acoustic syncopation beforehand. It's here too where the clarinet - so integral to the group's later sound - makes its first appearance, but for the time being only as a momentary guest.

Happy 55 never did have the highest profile. And their debut album in particular will never attract anything more than a small niche audience. But listeners on the same elevated wavelength (and who also enjoyed the Bruford/Moraz piano and drum collaborations) will find plenty to appreciate here.