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Keith Jarrett/Charlie Haden
Last Dance
ECM 0020803
There is an uncomfortable finality to the title of
this album—a finality that seems tacked on long
after the recording date. Closing with Gordon
Jenkins’ “Goodbye” doesn’t help. These informal
duo sessions were recorded seven years ago, prior
to Haden’s much publicized health setbacks, and
serve as a sequel to the 2010 duet release, Jasmine.
Jarrett and Haden go back much further than
that, though. They first played together on record
in the 1960s and all of the tunes on this album
Gordon Goodwin’s
Big Phat Band
Life In The Bubble
TELARC 35453
½
If you’ve paid attention to the arc of composer-bandleader
Gordon Goodwin’s big band career and
recordings, you know to expect the unexpected from
him and his Big Phat Band. They’ve taken the jazz
orchestra well beyond 4/4 swing with smart writing,
instrumental virtuosity and humor.
Goodwin’s savvy ability to feature his players is
as much a key to the band’s distinction as its worldclass
playing. Wayne Bergeron’s precise, on-thebeat
classical trumpet intro to “Years Of Therapy,”
Andrew Synowiec’s rock guitar on a shuffle blues
(“Synolicks”) and Eric Marienthal’s funky alto on
a fun reworking of the theme to the ’60s TV show
Get Smart are just some of the changeups, curveballs
and spitters that Goodwin serves up here. You never
know what’s coming with this outfit, but it’s always
intriguing and exciting.
Goodwin writes prolifically for the studio. It’s
easy to just focus on the skillful way he sets instruments
off against the ensemble, explores a tension
dynamic between brass and reeds, or moves vertical
figures up and down behind a linear theme.
But the execution is so uniformly inspired and
inspiring—drummer Bernie Dresel’s manifold
versatility, Bergeron’s phenomenal range, the
uniform section phrasing at high tempos—that
the writing proficiency can sometimes be taken
could have just as easily been played
at that first dance. With a few exceptions,
slow and low is the tempo for
the session with lengthy ballads like
“Everything Happens To Me” and
“Every Time We Say Goodbye” treated
to passionate and achingly deliberate
explorations.
Jarrett and Haden stretch out
without feeling long-winded. They
take their time through a setlist that
feels driven by an open-ended feeling
of, “Well, how about … ?” The
album is poignant and romantic,
drifting along in no particular rush
aside from one track—a lively take on
Bud Powell’s “Dance Of The Infidels.”
Jarrett swings jauntily, dropping staccato
clumps with his left hand while
Haden walks. A 12-minute version of “It Might As
Well Be Spring” follows and it is gorgeous in its
unhurried familiarity.
There are some recording lineups that are
simply impossible to imagine and then there are
records like this. Anyone with a cursory familiarity
with these two elder statesmen will not be
surprised by these performances, but they will be
completely satisfied. —Sean J. O’Connell
Last Dance: My Old Flame; My Ship; ’Round Midnight; Dance
Of The Infidels; It Might As Well Be Spring; Everything Happens To
Me; Where Can I Go Without You; Every Time We Say Goodbye;
Goodbye. (77:21)
Personnel: Keith Jarrett, piano; Charlie Haden, double bass.
Ordering info: ecmrecords.com
for granted. Though Goodwin and company are
mindful of traditional big band styles and techniques,
this band is bowing to and preserving
nothing. It’s using the big band configuration to
bust the 21st century wide open. —Kirk Silsbee
Life In The Bubble: Life In The Bubble; Why We Can’t Have Nice
Things; Synolicks; Years Of Therapy; The Passage; Garaje Gato;
Does This Chart Make Me Look Phat?; Get Smart; On Green Dolphin
Street; Party Rockers. (51:56)
Personnel: Gordon Goodwin, piano, tenor saxophone; Wayne
Bergeron, Dan Fornero, Willie Murillo, Dan Savant, Bob Summers
(9), trumpets; Andy Martin, Charlie Morillas, Francisco Torres, Craig
Gosnell, trombones; Eric Marienthal, soprano, alto saxophones;
Sal Lozano, piccolo, flute, alto saxophone; Brian Scanlon, clarinet,
tenor saxophone; Jeff Driskill (1, 2, 5, 7–9), tenor saxophone; Kevin
Garren, tenor (3, 4, 6), alto (2); Jay Mason, bass clarinet, baritone
saxophone; Andrew Synowiec, guitar; Rick Shaw, acoustic, electric
bass; Bernie Dresel, drums; Joey DeLeon, percussion; Judith Hill,
vocal (10).
Ordering info: concordmusicgroup.com
Fred Hersch Trio
Floating
PALMETTO 2171
½
It’s interesting how Fred Hersch—a pianist-composer
with an emotive touch and encyclopedic
knowledge of the jazz songbook—chooses his trio
partners, complementing his essentially lyrical art
with rhythm mates from jazz’s edgier realm. After
enlisting bassist Drew Gress and drummers Tom
Rainey and Nasheet Waits in earlier trios, the new
Fred Hersch Trio with drummer Eric McPherson
and bassist John Hébert made its studio debut
with 2010’s Whirl, then released the magnificent
double-album Alive At The Vanguard two years
later (both on Palmetto).
Now comes the studio follow-up, Floating,
which Hersch programmed to mirror one of his
trio’s typical club sets, with its arc and variety, if
not quite the same level of excitement. There’s an
upbeat standard to open and a Monk tune to close,
with a brace of originals and a ballad standard in
between. That opener is a pointillistic Latinization
of “You And The Night And The Music,” showcasing
McPherson the colorist. The album’s title
track delivers the best of Hersch as a composer; it’s
a beautiful piece of harmonic richness and deep
feeling. Another affecting highlight is “Far Away,”
which Hersch dedicated to Israeli pianist Shimrit
Shoshan, McPherson’s late wife, an up-and-comer
who passed away at 29.
Hersch’s “West Virginia Rose” is an
Americana poem of a song that the pianist wrote
for his mother and grandmother—and that serves
as a prelude to the skittering funkiness of “Home
Fries,” which Hersch dedicates to the Louisianabred
Hébert. “Arcata,” marked by a rhapsodic
and faintly Latin melody, as well as a free-spirited
rhythmic vitality, comes with a dedication to
another bassist with whom Hersch has played,
Esperanza Spalding. The treatment of Monk’s
“Let’s Cool One” is too lightweight. But this trio is
an ideal vehicle for Hersch, balancing subtle loveliness
with forward-minded energy.
—Bradley Bambarger
Floating: You And The Night And The Music; Floating; West
Virginia Rose; Home Fries; Far Away; Arcata; A Speech To The Sea;
Autumn Haze; If I Would Ever Leave You; Let’s Cool One. (58:34)
Personnel: Fred Hersch, piano; John Hébert, double-bass; Eric
McPherson, drums.
Ordering info: palmetto-records.com
74 DOWNBEAT AUGUST 2014