CHARLIE HADEN & GONZALO RUBALCABA – Tokyo Adagio
Impulse Records
Charlie Haden (bass) Gonzalo Rubalcaba (piano) recorded live at The Blue Note, Tokyo on consecutive evenings in the spring of 2005
Mindful of the respect and reverence due to an artist who has contributed so much to the music one is reluctant to say anything negative about what will inevitably be amongst the last recordings we will hear from Charlie Haden who died last year. Over the course of a fifty seven year career Haden played with just about everyone in the Who’s Who of jazz moving between the genres of modern mainstream and avant-garde with ease and total conviction. Anyone who is a serious collector of modern jazz records will have myriad examples of his work whether as a sideman or a leader of his own groups: he appears on many of the most famous recordings ever made and his style is distinguished by a warm lyricism in solos and a buoyant resonance in rhythmic support.
My problem with this disc is not Haden’s playing but Rubalcaba’s style and the adagio concept which because his ponderous use of intervals proceeds at a tempo approaching grave. All the pieces are slow and languid and even a tune like Haden’s haunting `Sandino` is attenuated to the point of drabness whilst Coleman’s `When Will The Blues Leave`, which could have provided an opportunity to vary the dynamics, comes over as tentative and unfocused. In short it is all rather heavy going.
Sadly, for me this disc compares unfavourably with Haden’s collaborations with other pianists like Denny Zeitlin, Keith Jarrett and Geri Allen and has proved to be a disappointment. You may have a different opinion and avid followers of these two artists will want to add it to their collection regardless of anything I’ve said.
Reviewed By Euan Dixon
Impulse Records
Charlie Haden (bass) Gonzalo Rubalcaba (piano) recorded live at The Blue Note, Tokyo on consecutive evenings in the spring of 2005
Mindful of the respect and reverence due to an artist who has contributed so much to the music one is reluctant to say anything negative about what will inevitably be amongst the last recordings we will hear from Charlie Haden who died last year. Over the course of a fifty seven year career Haden played with just about everyone in the Who’s Who of jazz moving between the genres of modern mainstream and avant-garde with ease and total conviction. Anyone who is a serious collector of modern jazz records will have myriad examples of his work whether as a sideman or a leader of his own groups: he appears on many of the most famous recordings ever made and his style is distinguished by a warm lyricism in solos and a buoyant resonance in rhythmic support.
My problem with this disc is not Haden’s playing but Rubalcaba’s style and the adagio concept which because his ponderous use of intervals proceeds at a tempo approaching grave. All the pieces are slow and languid and even a tune like Haden’s haunting `Sandino` is attenuated to the point of drabness whilst Coleman’s `When Will The Blues Leave`, which could have provided an opportunity to vary the dynamics, comes over as tentative and unfocused. In short it is all rather heavy going.
Sadly, for me this disc compares unfavourably with Haden’s collaborations with other pianists like Denny Zeitlin, Keith Jarrett and Geri Allen and has proved to be a disappointment. You may have a different opinion and avid followers of these two artists will want to add it to their collection regardless of anything I’ve said.
Reviewed By Euan Dixon
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