Customer Reviews

Jasmine

5 star:		(4)
4 star:		(0)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Jarrett and Haden were reunited in 2007 during recording of a documentary about the bassist. After they played together informally, Jarrett invited Haden home, where they spent four days recording in Jarrett's studio. Given their recent histories of recording standards - Jarrett with his Standards Trio, Haden with his Quartet West - they unsurprisingly opted for songs from the Great American Songbook.
It's more than 30 years since the last recorded meeting of these two great names in contemporary jazz, and Jarrett has not made a studio album since 1998, preferring live solo or trio recordings.
Therefore, the recording is quite an event. As a concept, these piano-and-bass explorations of eight classic American songs could not be simpler, but the poise and subtlety of both thought and execution make it a spellbinding experience.
Jarrett has a remarkable talent for creating an aura of stillness around him, so that every note he plays stands out clear and bright and the slightest harmonic nuance carries meaning. Haden's bass, with its intimate, woody tone, lays the perfect groundwork, as always.
The two instruments - piano and bass - are beautifully recorded in a very simple and natural fashion. The repertoire is made up of carefully chosen standards, and their approach is deliberately shorn of over-elaboration, but the music itself is full of nuances and the kind of masterly touches and inflections we have come to expect.
Their interaction on the slow and mid-tempo tunes they favour is sublime.
"Every note carries full weight and every silence - Haden is a master in using space - has significance". - K. Mathieson
"It's an intimate, home-studio recording of love songs - deep, almost painfully heartfelt - and so good it will be sure to top most best-of lists. There's no tricksiness, just the woody thump of Haden's bass adding authority to Jarrett's tender, faithful chording. "For All We Know" is a Desert Island Discs cert; "Body & Soul" is done almost jauntily; the closing "Don't Ever Leave Me" a bitter sweet miracle. If you buy only one album this year, etc...".-Phil Johnson
Brilliant.
Essential.

I need not write another detailed review of this beautiful album as previous reviewers have perfectly described my own feelings about it, especially the first one. A lovely lyrical album. I purchased it from an excellent Amazon Marketplace seller beachesmusic from Ontario Canada.

Whzn I bought it, I already knew it would be one of the best of this "duet".

They make me dream and fly over my dreams.

Very highly recommended to anyone looking for food for soul.

This is the type of CD you play again and again. It can be background or center stage and you can enjoy it both ways. Two great artists at their best.