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.
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
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.
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
