Perhaps the best way to appreciate Joanne Brackeen"s artistry is to hear her unaccompanied piano version of Richard Rodgers"s "Bewitched, Bothered, and Bewildered." It"s a solo, but her two hands move so restlessly, so independently, that it sounds like a duet. While her right hand is spinning the melody into ever more surprising tangents, her left hand is constantly shifting the harmonic groundwork. The tug of war gives the song a riveting drama. Brackeen"s two-handed interplay is at the core of all six pieces on this album, recorded at a 1992 show in Manhattan. Taking the part of her left hand are her longtime bassist Cecil McBee and the marvelously flexible drummer Marvin "Smitty" Smith; taking the part of her right hand is alto saxophonist Donald Harrison, a former Jazz Messenger like Brackeen. --Geoffrey Himes