Avram Fefer’s been a busy man lately: his partnership with the pianist Bobby Few has led to a recent pair of releases on Boxholder, Kindred Spirits and Heavenly Places; and last January he visited CIMP’s Spirit Room to set down a pair of sessions in the company of bassist Michael Bisio. The results were Bisio’s quartet disc Connections (CIMP 323) and this intimate duet disc. Painting Breath, Stoking Fire is taken up in its entirety by Fefer’s “Suite for 2005,” a set of loosely linked themes which begins with the hiccupping flute feature “Ancestral Voices” and ends with a rapt tenor solo, “Love (Keepin’ on).” Along the way there are a few harumscarum episodes like “City Life,” but the emphasis throughout the disc is on simple, sturdy melodies. It’s not a standout disc, but it still offers plenty of charming, quietly soulful music; fans of Fefer’s ballad album Kindred Spirits in particular will find this an appealing offering.

Nate Dorward

Cadence, January 2006