Hasaan Ibn Ali: Retrospect in Retirement of Delay: The Solo Recordings

Solo musical performances are a rare and unusual experience unto themselves for both artist and audience. Whether song-oriented or in improvisational mode, the creator offers the work from a stance of vulnerability in the hope of connecting with the observers in such a way that the intimacy of the moment(s) provides insight into the minds and hearts of all. And, paradoxical as it may seem, such stirring moments can resonate equally resoundingly in a large hall or the isolation of a recording studio.

In that context, Hasaan Ibn Ali's Metaphysics: The Lost Atlantic Album (Omnivore, 2019) was a revelation to be sure, but Retrospect In Retirement of Delay: The Solo Recordings is even more illuminating. At least the aforementioned studio recordings had some precedent in the form of The Max Roach Trio Featuring The Legendary Hasaan (Atlantic, 1965). But this is a collection of previously unreleased solo tracks where the late pianist, situated in some more informal settings, lets his mind and hands roam free (along with his voice on "Extemporaneous Prose-Poem"), thus conjuring both the fanciful and the contemplative in equal measure.

Virtually without interruption or interference, the two CDs reveal the eccentric beauty of the Philadelphia native's piano work. Its title taken from a personal letter written by the artist (one of his many idiosyncrasies), the twenty-one track compendium curated by scholar/fans Alan Sukoenig and Lewis Porter along with the label's mainstay Cheryl Pawelski document a time in the early sixties when this iconoclastic pianist was busy only under the proverbial radar in his hometown of Philadelphia. And yet Ali was prolific in his own sweet way when he sat down at the piano, as much on his choices of standards as on his spontaneous and previously-composed material.

A pianist of some renown himself, Matthew Shipp notes in his essay that 'the standards were fertilizer for the originals' and so it is that Rodgers and Hart's "Falling In Love with Love" and "On Green Dolphin Street" offer a structure for Ali to stretch every which way to accommodate his own thought patterns. In his hands on the ivories, the tunes are recognizable, but only fleetingly so, existing not so much as enticement for those hearing him to listen more closely, but as a moment's respite for the musician himself to gather the momentum within the flow of his thoughts, then proceed accordingly. The music is, like its intriguing cover art, at once familiar and provocative in a sustained series of quick turns.

Two parts of the self-composed "True Train" offer extra insight into the mechanics by which Hasaan Ibn Ali played. No matter how dense the patterns he weaves, individual notes are as clear as the composite as a whole, if a bit more self-evident. Not to disparage any of his accompanists or bandmates of the past, but the man makes the most of tunes like "Atlantic Ones:" unencumbered by the presence of other players, Ali roams free and almost wild, restrained only by his intrinsic sense of discipline, rooted in a nuanced knowledge of composition.

References to Thelonious Monk and John Coltrane invariably arise in such scholarly discussions that appear in the enclosed forty-page booklet for ...The Solo Recordings. But even as they are somewhat informative for those heretofore initiated to the gifts of these artists, iconic and otherwise, they can do only so much justice to such highly-esteemed figures; as with the photos of Hasaan Ibn Ali too, they but approximate the elegant joy that flows from, for instance, this rendition of his own "Off My Back Jack." If it sounds nigh on preposterous to posit solo piano recordings as inspiration for abandoned dancing, even limited exposure to Retrospect in Retirement of Delay... will ratify the truth of that line of thinking.

In fact, from stomps to pirouettes and then some, it's all here over the course of two hours plus. And, mastered to fulsome fidelity by Grammy Award-winning engineer Michael Graves, the output from so fertile an imagination as Hasaan Ibn Ali's should thus penetrate body, mind and soul.