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Jazz Articles about Charlie Haden
Carta de Amor
by John Kelman
It's sure been a banner year for fans of the ECM label, with a slew of fine new releases from artists including guitarist John Abercrombie (Within a Song), bassist Arild Andersen (Celebration), pianist Tord Gustavsen (The Well), and saxophonist Tim Berne (Snakeoil). Previously out-of-print or never-before-in-print studio recordings from saxophonist Jan Garbarek (Dansere) and pianist Jon Balke (Magnetic Works: 1993-2001 ) are now back in circulation. And, for the first time since bassist Charlie Haden's duet record with pianist/guitarist Egberto ...
Continue ReadingCharlie Haden / Hank Jones: Come Sunday
by Mark F. Turner
Come Sunday continues the dialog between two jazz masters--bassist Charlie Haden and pianist Hank Jones--that began with 1995's Steal Away (Verve). The topic of discussion concerns hymns, spirituals, and beloved tunes which are, without a doubt, personal and familiar to both musicians. Jones (the elder sibling of jazz luminaries Elvin Jones and Thad Jones) was the son of a devout Baptist deacon while Haden grew up performing in his family's radio show, which included country and American folk music.
Continue ReadingKonitz/Mehldau/Haden/Motian: Live at Birdland
by Dan McClenaghan
Konitz/Mehldau/Haden/MotianLive at BirdlandECM Records2011 The tunes are familiar, Great American Songbook and jazz standards all. So for those unfamiliar with the names involved in this quartet outing, the old complaint of “same old same old" could surface. But with alto saxophonist Lee Konitz at the top of the listing, “same old same old" gets rolled out the door. Konitz, with over 60 years of professional experience--from the 1949 Birth ...
Continue ReadingCharlie Haden Quartet West: Norwich, UK May 19, 2011
by Bruce Lindsay
Charlie Haden Quartet WestSt Peter Mancroft ChurchNorwich, UKMay 19, 2011 The warm and sunny spring weather meant that queuing outside the venue was more of a pleasure than a chore for the jazz fans waiting to see and hear Charlie Haden Quartet West in the impressive surroundings of St Peter Mancroft church, in the centre of Norwich. Good-natured conversation, often with strangers, added to the pleasure and when the doors of this beautiful Norfolk church ...
Continue ReadingKonitz/Mehldau/Haden/Motian: Live at Birdland
by John Kelman
Grist for what seems like an endless flow of recordings, The Great American Songbook has, ultimately, become as much a crutch as it is an inspiration. There's no denying the staying power of music that's near-Jungian in its collective familiarity, but if an artist is simply running down the tunes, à la Real Book--head, solo, head--the music too easily becomes nothing more than a tired retread, a kind of whitewashing that, rather than moving jazz forward, stops it in its ...
Continue ReadingCharlie Haden Quartet West: Sophisticated Ladies
by Chris May
Gorgeous, poised and inviting. And that's just the sister on the cover of bassist Charlie Haden'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 and saxophonist Ornette Coleman and preparing for a little therapeutic rioting. But time passes and age ...
Continue ReadingKeith Jarrett / Charlie Haden: Jasmine
by Joe Alterman
Keith Jarrett, like Sonny Rollins, is quite hard to pin down. Like the iconic saxophonist, for many years now, the equally legendary pianist has been leaning towards the songs of his youth, and even earlier. Compared with their song choices of, say, twenty years ago, it would seem that these players have become more conservative over the years; that is, however, simply not true. Again, like Rollins, Jarrett's improvisations have evolved through the years, with an even greater searching and ...
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