It happens now and then: I am tied up on deadline for an article that demands extensive research. The Rifftides staff reports that there is no stash of shelf material, a serious breach of preparedness. They will be reprimanded. In a life misspent in journalism I have been conditioned to find dead air and blank space unacceptable. That translates to discomfort when the blog goes unrefreshed.
Fortunately, a solution arrived in the form of a fine video to which a friend alerted me. This is a performance in 2000 by Charlie Haden’s Quartet West at the Jazz Baltica festival in Germany. The piece is Haden’s “Hello, My Lovely.” The arrangement, presumably by Alan Broadbent, is for the quartet and the Schleswig-Holstein Chamber Orchestra. Broadbent conducts and plays piano. Haden is the bassist, Larance Marable the drummer. Tenor saxophonist Ernie Watts outdoes himself. Bill Henderson is mentioned in the on-screen credits, but he is nowhere to be seen or heard. The high quality of the picture makes full-screen viewing a good idea.
The Haden Quartet’s debut recording of “Hello, My Lovely” is on this album.
The nonagenarian pianist presented de Barros with every biographer’s hope, unrestricted access to his subject’s personal papers and nearly unrestricted access to her private thoughts. He made the most of it, turning exhaustive research and hundreds of hours of interviews into a true story with the sweep of a novel. From the early discovery of McPartland’s musical gift through her wartime service, her ecstatic and stormy marriage to Jimmy McPartland, her growth as a pianist, her deep affair with Joe Morello, and the radio show that made her a national figure, she has had a fascinating life. It makes a splendid read.
Mulligan’s Concert Jazz Band had three fewer musicians than most big jazz outfits. Its size permitted precision, flexibility and subtlety, yet the band had the power of sprung steel. In this concert from a half century ago, the CJB is as fresh as yesterday. Arrangements by Mulligan, Bob Brookmeyer, Al Cohn and Johnny Mandel set standards to which big band writers still aspire. Bassist Buddy Clark and drummer Mel Lewis inspired Mulligan, Brookmeyer, Conte Candoli, Gene Quill and Zoot Sims to some of the best soloing of their careers. This beautifully produced issue of the complete concert is a basic repertoire item.
Beautiful!
Here is more Haden and Broadbent
with Gary Foster.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mJGY-LV1fZ8&NR=1
Ernie Watts! What a versatile (& unheralded) performer-from studio work w/ Steely Dan & counttless others to Qrt West like this-excellent Saxman!
If crying at the movies, wanting the hero(ine) to triumph, and loving almost anything Charlie Haden puts his callused fingers to–but especially the Quartet West albums, nostalgia made art (among other attributes)–then call me romantic too. Haden’s the Heart(beat) of the West, and sometimes seems more, the very Center of the Earth. His deep, thudding bass note choices seem so effortlessly powerful–is it a matter of his diminished hearing (much as art critics proposed that Monet’s late paintings resulted from his gradual loss of sight)? Well, whatever the case, remember that old Horace never recommended that anyone, young or old, man or woman, go East. West is best, and East, well, some l- word finishes that rhyme.
Great web site. Lots of useful information here. I’m sending it to some friends and also sharing in delicious music. Thanks for your effort!