Taylor Ho Bynum and Tomas Fujiwara

In the four decades since John Coltrane went head-to-head with Rashied Ali on Interstellar Space, the sax-drums duet has become a veritable subgenre of jazz. But the idiom’s other prestige ax, the trumpet, hasn’t had nearly as much time alone with the trap set. Given the recent efforts of brass players such as Axel Dörner, Greg Kelley and Peter Evans to expand the instrument’s timbral palette, the time seems ripe for the horn to make its mark in the intimate duet format. Fellow searcher Taylor Ho Bynum is just the man for the job.

Bynum—who actually favors the cornet, a close relative of the trumpet—is best known for his work with Anthony Braxton, and he shares his mentor’s highly conceptual approach to improvisation. Self-imposed parameters prove fruitful for Bynum and his longtime collaborator Tomas Fujiwara on their debut duo release, True Events (482 Music), for which tonight’s show serves as a release party. The disc’s “Five Miniatures (Ficciones)” finds Bynum and the drummer moving from one discrete musical scenario to the next, demonstrating that they’re as comfy with a skittery cat-and-mouse chase as a somber trudge.

But even when playing without a framework, as in “The Emperor of Ice Cream,” the pair manages to construct a convincing narrative arc, with Fujiwara’s hypnotic wash acting as the perfect foil for Bynum’s voicelike exclamations. Hopefully this disc and the attendant performance will inspire other brass-drums duos to join the still-fledgling conversation. — Hank Shteamer