jon gibson: two solo pieces

For his second album, Two Solo Pieces, Jon Gibson forgoes the dense, multi-layered timbres of Visitations in favor of simple textures and tone. While Two Solo Pieces serves up further evidence of Gibson's centrality to American minimalism -- witness its inclusion in Alan Licht's famed Minimal Top Ten list -- this profoundly intimate record also reveals the beauty of enclosed spaces and infinite harmonic vistas. As its unadorned title suggests, Two Solo Pieces consists of a pair of side-long tracks featuring the composer alone. While 'Cycles,' an iridescent improvisation on organ, achieves a downright eerie sense of expansiveness, Gibson's captivating alto flute on 'Untitled' draws the listener inside the instrument itself. The photo on the album's back cover -- a seated Gibson surrounded by cascading rows of organ pipes and the vaulted ceiling in Manhattan's Peace Church -- offers a striking visual complement to these gorgeous recordings. Originally released in 1977 on Philip Glass' Chatham Square imprint, this first-time vinyl reissue is recommended for fans of Anthony Moore, Roberto Cacciapaglia and Terry Riley.