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GEORGE HASLAM  & MÁRIO RUA - maresia

Slam Records SLAMCD331

George Haslam, tárogató and clarinet; Mário Rua, drums.
Recorded 12/13th March 2014, Lisboa, Portugal
 
Although George Haslam had devoted himself to the saxophone and tárogató since 1955, here he records live on clarinet and tárogató, a Hungarian/Romanian instrument, originally double-reeded with no keys.  Redesigned in the 1890s, it uses a single reed, has keys and a conical bore like the saxophone, and is made of black, granadilla wood, like a clarinet.  The commonly employed version is soprano in B♭, about 74cm long.

George Haslam is not the first jazz musician to deploy this somewhat, sometimes raucous instrument; Joe Lovano used it comprehensively (Mostly Coltrane), Charles Lloyd occasionally, and Peter Brötzmann expansively in Free Jazz and Free Improv.
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The two musicians met more or less by chance in Portugal and the result is a very stimulating, free encounter, the schawm-like sounds which Haslam’s tárogató generates stimulating Rua to give free rein to his rhythms.  All of this music is impulsive and unstructured and carries a certain bleakness, but is exquisitely inspiring and completely honest.
 
Reviewed by Ken Cheetham


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ECM celebrates 50 years of music production with the Touchstones series of re-issues