Tom Teasley is an American, Virginia-based percussionist and electronics player (and a former Cultural Envoy) whose work has been shaped by musical traditions from around the world. Inner Play teams Teasley with fellow American master trumpeter, composer, and educator (a Professor of Music at Towson University in Maryland) Dave Ballou for a spontaneously improvised session, recorded live in one take with no overdubs. This is the duo’s sophomore album, following Lunch Break (Self-Released, 2025).
The album’s title informs its spirit. It is an emphatic, intimate conversation without a script or set list. Inner Play offers twelve short pieces that begin with Teasley’s colourful, suggestive percussive gesture or groove, soon abstracted by Ballou into a rich, nuanced, story-like and often poetic melody. These instant melodies move seamlessly between different moods – the lyrical, the playful, the meditative, and the ones that search for open, uncharted territories. The duo’s interplay is completely egalitarian, generous, attuned to every detail, and always in the service of the music.
These instant compositions enjoy Teasley and Ballou’s great versatility and sharp instincts, as well as their restless need to explore new, uplifting, and inspired ways of musical communication. The music visits the rich legacy of jazz, but also flirts with more exotic Middle Eastern and Eastern dances and rituals. My favourite piece is the most ‘out’ piece, “Inside Inn”, with Ballou’s free trumpet playing echoing the seminal voice of Don Cherry.
Eyal Hareuveni
Tom Teasley (drums, hand pan, percussion, melodica, electronics), Dave Ballou (trumpet)
