Detroit saxophonist Skeeter Shelton and Chicago percussionist Hamid Drake didn’t know each other before Skeeter was subbed into a duo gig at Trinosophes (Detroit) after Hamid’s partner fell ill. Shortly before the performance, it was discovered that Skeeter’s father, Ajaramu Shelton, was Hamid’s drum teacher and mentor at Chicago’s Association for the Advancement of Creative Musicians. There was an instant bond. The set that night was fire. This should be no surprise, as keeter, through his father, grew up around AACM-affiliated  musicians like Roscoe Mitchell, Joseph Jarman, Fred Anderson  and especially, Amina Claudine Meyers. Soon after, it was  decided that Skeeter and Hamid should record together.  With Hamid’s international touring schedule, there was  only a narrow window of opportunity. A date was picked  for Hamid to come to Detroit for a day of recording and a  one-night stay.  It turned out to be the morning aftermath of the polar  vortex in early 2019. Hamid’s just over four-hour drive from  Chicago ballooned into more than nine hours. When he  finally arrived, he was asked if he needed to decompress  or eat something. He was sick of sitting in a car, he said, and  just needed to play. That was it. Hamid was already on the house kit—no mic placement, no line check—and he and Skeeter didn’t stop for 90 minutes. Then they paused and did another half-an-hour. It was an outpouring of free improvisation and  Skeeter’s own material—all of which was new to Hamid—that  found the musicians discovering mutual sympathies  and shared pathways in the music. For this release, we have  highlighted mostly portions where Skeeter’s themes  predominate, because so many of them are excellent and largely unknown.