Charlie Haden Quartet West: Sophisticated Ladies (2010)

Chris May

Senior Editor since 2004

Chris May edited Black Music & Jazz Review (UK).

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Published: November 30, 2010

Charlie Haden Quartet West: Sophisticated Ladies

Gorgeous, poised and inviting. And that's just the sister on the cover of bassist Charlie Haden Charlie Haden
b.1937
bass, acoustic 's latest with-singers-and-strings album. It's a retro design which, like the disc it packages, was inspired by Capitol Records' distinctive jazz-inflected vocal albums of the early 1960s. Your parents got off on this stuff big time back in the day, while you were busy listening to singer Bob Dylan Bob Dylan
b.1941
composer/conductor and saxophonist Ornette Coleman Ornette Coleman
b.1930
sax, alto and preparing for a little therapeutic rioting. But time passes and age mellows and even radicals such as Haden, in 1960 a member of the Coleman quartet which recorded the iconoclastic The Shape Of Jazz To Come (Atlantic), may eventually embrace the appeal of well-crafted songs of romance, sumptuous orchestrations and glamorous singers.

Of the Haden-led Quartet West's various albums in this preservationist, as opposed to revisionist, style, The Art Of The Song (Verve, 1999), made with singers Bill Henderson Bill Henderson
b.1926
vocal and Shirley Horn Shirley Horn
1934 - 2005
piano , is widely considered the best. Sophisticated Ladies is every bit as good. This time out the singers are, in alphabetical order of first names (as the liner notes carefully put it), Cassandra Wilson Cassandra Wilson
b.1955
vocal , Diana Krall Diana Krall
b.1964
piano , Melody Gardot Melody Gardot
b.1985
vocal , Norah Jones Norah Jones
b.1979
piano , Ren�e Fleming Ren�e Fleming
and Ruth Cameron Ruth Cameron
, who with her husband, Haden, is also co-producer. Tenor saxophonist Ernie Watts Ernie Watts
b.1945
reeds and pianist Alan Broadbent Alan Broadbent
b.1947
piano are present once more, but drummer Larance Marable Larance Marable
b.1929 has been succeeded, following illness, by Rodney Green Rodney Green

drums .

The 12-track album is split equally between vocal and instrumental tracks, with all bar one of the vocal tracks, Jones' "Ill Wind," featuring a string orchestra arranged and conducted by Broadbent. Vocals and instrumentals are sequenced alternately, and the disc kicks off with Gardot's "If I'm Lucky." Some of the vocal material is familiar; most of it, though written by masters such as Harold Arlen/Ted Koehler, Edgar De Lange/Josef Myrow and Johnny Mercer, is less so.

On the six instrumentals, unfussily arranged by Haden, Quartet West maintain the ambiance, with concise solos from Watts, Broadbent and Green. Hank Jones Hank Jones
1918 - 2010
piano ' "Angel Face," included as a tribute to the late pianist, is an atmospheric slice of noir, and Bennie Harris' "Wahoo" a frisky bopper. Duke Ellington Duke Ellington
1899 - 1974
piano 's "Sophisticated Lady," which alone of the instrumentals also includes Broadbent's velvety strings, is as bewitching as the cover shot.

With top drawer vocals, a virtuoso jazz backbone, immaculate audio quality and engaging liner notes by executive producer Jean-Philippe Allard, Sophisticated Ladies is a delight.

Track Listing: If I'm Lucky; Sophisticated Lady; Ill Wind; Today I Am A Man; My Love And I; Theme From Markham; Let's Call It A Day; Angel Face; A Love Like This; My Old Flame; Goodbye; Wahoo.

Personnel: Ernie Watts: tenor saxophone; Alan Broadbent: piano; Charlie Haden: double-bass; Rodney Green: drums; Melody Gardot: vocals (1); Norah Jones: vocals (3); Cassandra Wilson: vocals (5); Ruth Cameron: vocals (7); Renee Fleming: vocals (9); Diana Krall: vocals (11); string orchestra arranged and conducted by Alan Broadbent (1, 2, 5, 7, 9, 11).

Record Label: EmArcy
Style: Modern Jazz