A foghorn blows through the mists enshrouding desolate docks along the Mississippi in the dead of night. And it blows again. It’s not the opening scene of a classic noir flick. This is the opening scene—uh, bass clarinet notes—of Little Bigby, a set of duo compositions and improvisations by woodwinds player Byron Asher and percussionist Brad Webb, with a little electronic enhancement from both. But certainly, you will “see” some such scene in your head as you listen, and certainly in stark black and white. Heck, the title of the piece, which builds its own fog of ambient electronics and looped woodwinds, is “Dawn Patrol,” so cue the beat cop about to enter the screen as he makes his rounds in the early morning gloom.

 

 

It’s only one picture conjured by these charming off-the-cuff pieces in a variety of moods. There’s the jazzy-saxy waltz of “Les Printemps Perdu” (“The Lost Spring”). There’s the arty mystique of “My Uncle Sam Is Dead,” something along the lines of “Strawberry Fields Forever” disassembled and then put back together by Sammy Cahn in a malfunctioning toy factory. There’s the spooky, circusy and not-at-all-tranquility-inducing “Tranquillo,” which brings us back, anxiously, to that foggy dock. And there’s the synth-infused post-rock processional “All By Ourselves,” the album’s ceremonial conclusion.

Despite, or along with, the noir allusions/illusions, the picture that runs through it all is of two 7th Ward next-door neighbors/friends, both mainstays of the New Orleans music world, having fun playing around to get themselves through the ups and downs of pandemic life. Even the subdued parts radiate with that joy. And those are scenes you’ll “see” in bright, vivid Technicolor.