One of the world's greatest improvisers, double bassist Barre Phillips, passed away just over a year ago. The album Togetherness pays tribute to his memory with the edited version of an improvised duo concert: in 2014, Phillips celebrated his 80th birthday and György Kurtág Jr., one of the leading figures of experimental electronics, celebrated his 60th birthday by playing together at the BMC Opus Jazz Club.

Barre Phillips, who passed away just over a year ago, was not only one of the world's greatest improvisers, but also fundamentally transformed the tradition and perspectives of jazz bass playing. The album Togetherness pays tribute to his memory with the edited version of an improvised duo concert: in 2014, Phillips celebrated his 80th birthday and György Kurtág Jr., one of the leading figures in experimental electronics, celebrated his 60th birthday by playing together at the BMC Opus Jazz Club. The two artists then worked together for a decade to promote improvisation as an independent art and communication form: under the auspices of the experimental workshop called Centre Européen Pour l’Improvisation (CEPI) – founded by Phillips and Enrico Fagnoni and currently led by Kurtág Jr. –, and in the natural environment of practicing musicians, on stage and in the studio. As a result, the immediate predecessor to this album, the duo album Face à Face, was released in 2020 on ECM Records, and now we can discover a new chapter in the intense artistic and human dialogue between Phillips and Kurtág Jr. entitled Togetherness.

Barre Phillips (1934–2024) was a defining figure in the avant-garde music scene in both Europe and the US. He played on nearly twenty ECM Records albums; his last solo album, End to End, was released here in 2016, and his duo album Face à Face with György Kurtág Jr. in 2020. During his career spanning more than six decades, Phillips played in Chris McGregor’s band, the London Jazz Composers Orchestra, and the Spontaneous Music Ensemble, worked with Ornette Coleman, Paul Bley, and Evan Parker, and wrote film scores for Marcel Camus, Jacques Rivette, and Robert Kramer. At the beginning of his career, György Kurtág Jr. was most influenced by the Új Zenei Stúdió, in whose work he also participated. In the 1980s, he worked at IRCAM in Paris. He was a founding member of SCRIME, the computer music laboratory at the University of Bordeaux. His research in music pedagogy led him to develop a new method of musical communication, on which he is writing his doctoral dissertation. His work as a composer and performer ranges from free improvisation to progressive rock; his recordings have been released on ECM and BMC Records.