Jim Hall: Magic Meeting

Most of the tunes are excursions in calm. It is into this atmosphere that the trio brings textures that dye deep and resplendently. Out of that deliberate impact rises music that snares and envelops the senses.

Hall plays with gentle expression, his notes open and loquacious. Yet, in an instant, he can scurry and flatten a note to bring in neat tangents. He evokes pith and sensibility on "Body and Soul" as the music floats and falls softly. Nash adds the brushes stoking the gentility. And as the song is unveiled over eleven minutes, its evolution is shaped by Hall's emphatic chords, a melodically injected solo from Colley and a short shift in tempo that gives it a lilt that sits in compactly. One cannot help but be snappy and happy when getting into "St. Thomas," and the three do just that, swaying and undulating on the calypso tune with an interjection of "I've Been Working on the Railroad." The innate beauty and sparkle in this eloquent take on "Skylark" puts the stamp on not only the artistry of Hall but also the craftmanship of the band.