Much like the music they make, the duo of Yoko Miwa and Mikayla Shirley came about organically. Although they both habituated Berklee College of Music in Boston — Miwa as a professor in the piano department, vocalist Shirley as a graduate student — they actually started performing together at late-night jam sessions at The Mad Monkfish in Cambridge. Those sessions, prized by the local jazz cognoscenti, formed the roots of the duo’s first recorded collaboration, aptly titled The Midnight Hour both for its overall feel and the wee-hours gig that inspired it. Their live presentation also provided a template for the album. “We don’t work from fixed arrangements,” Miwa explains. “On a gig, we spontaneously decide what to play in the moment, guided by the emotional arc of the set — considering factors like mood, tempo, key and lyrical content.” While Miwa and Shirley brought a list of tunes to the studio, they didn’t predetermine which they’d play or in what order. The collection begins with a dreamy, sigh-inducing read of the Bacharach/David classic “Alfie,” Shirley’s lush contralto beautifully complemented by Miwa’s supportive yet hardly sublimated piano, as they engage in deep conversation. The pianist’s solo is absolutely heart-rending, as is Shirley’s sad yet hopeful conclusion: “I believe in love, Alfie/Without true love we just exist, Alfie/Until you find the love you’ve missed, you’re nothing, Alfie/When you walk, let your heart lead the way/And you’ll find love any day, Alfie.” On a program encompassing jazz and Brazilian standards, show tunes and The Beach Boys’ “God Only Knows,” Miwa and Shirley reveal a connection that apparently was there from the start and has likely deepened since they’ve gotten to know one another.
