Spontaneous composition is a challenge to any jazz player, but it’s an especially difficult proposition when the musicians aren’t a working band. Pianist Carol Liebowitz had played with bassist Adam Lane, but not with drummer Andrew Drury. The rhythm keepers had known each other since they were students in the eighties, but, amazingly, this is their first album together. Fortunately, “Crosstown,” the opening cut on In Real Time’s debut Blue Shift, proves this first-time threesome sympatico. Drury and Lane lock immediately into Liebowitz’s blue piano melody, keeping the ground shifting beneath the pianist’s feet just enough to make things interesting for her. Lane and Liebowitz engage in a swirling, deliberate dance on the title track, with Drury adding ornamental cymbals and brisk snare shots when appropriate. Drury leads the way into completely free territory on “Curve,” while Lane’s arco bass fulfills the same function on “Sequoia Moon,” the initial formlessness of which evolves into one of the most straightforward tunes here. IRT closes the record with the early dawn wandering of “Passacaglia,” the most unstructured piece yet. Unstructured doesn’t mean undisciplined, however, as these three players quickly find their common groove and express it in harmony.
