Land of the Sun

Gonzalo Rubalcaba, Charlie Haden | Format: Audio CD

Product Details

• Audio CD (August 31, 2004)
• Number of Discs: 1
• Label: Verve
• ASIN: B0002O37RM
• Also Available in: Audio CD  |  MP3 Download
• Average Customer Review: 3.9 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (13 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #54,704 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com

From free jazz and protest songs to American folk tunes, eclecticism has been bassist Charlie Haden's stock-in-trade. On his previous recording, Nocturne, Haden, Cuban pianist Gonzalo Rubalcaba, tenor saxophonist Joe Lovano, and percussionist Ignacio Berroa explored the Latin ballad tradition. Here, save for Augstin Lara's "Solamente Una Vez (You Belong to My Heart)" (previously recorded by Elvis Presley and Frank Sinatra) and Armando Manzanero's "Esta Tarde Vi Llover (Yesterday I Heard the Rain)," Haden focuses on the work of little-known Mexican composer Jose Sabre Marroquin. Haden's vivid and vibrant bass lines are augmented by Rubalcaba's transcendent arrangements, featuring Lovano and alto saxophonist Miguel Zenon. Marroquin's romantic boleros and canciones, especially "Nostalgia" and "Paola's Song," exemplify the softer syncopations of the Latin sound. --Eugene Holley, Jr.

Product Description

HADEN CHARLIE / RUBALCABA GONZALO LAND OF THE SUN

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

59 of 59 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A disc of great warmth and beauty, September 2, 2004

By 

Jan P. Dennis "Longboard jazzer" (Monument, CO USA) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Land of the Sun (Audio CD)

Longtime collaborators Haden and Rubalcaba have produced a recording of many delicious pleasures.

It's worth a short accounting of how this music came about (as rendered in the disc's liner notes). Charlie Haden, a man with deep affinities to Latin music, played a concert in 2003 in Austin, Texas. After the concert he was approached by Patricia Mendes, daughter of Mexican composer Jose Sabre Marroquin, whose song, "Nocturnal," Haden had recorded earlier. She wished to thank the artist for his beautiful rendition of the song, and to give him a folder of her father's compositions.

After carefully looking over these compositions, Haden showed them to Gonzalo Rubalcaba to see if the latter might be interested in working with him on an entire disc of Marroquin compositions. When Rubalcaba showed enthusiasm for the project, the two began to plan a recording session, which ended up with eight songs by Marroquin and one each by Mexican composers Agustin Lara and Armando Manzanero.

The result is this disc. In many ways, it is a recording of profound, although deceptive, simplicity. The musical materials comprise such commonplace elements as to lull the unwary listener into an almost tropically soporific stupor. A closer attending reveals subtleties of composition, arrangement, and playing that vault the proceedings out of seemingly merely generic pretty Latin music into the precincts of glorious felicity. The leader's bass playing has a lot to do with it. Charlie Haden, for years, has developed and cultivated a unique style on acoustic bass, combining a careful placement of notes, an individual, even idiosyncratic sense of timing, and a depth of sonority and gravitas seldom approached--let alone achieved--by any other player in the history of acoustic jazz bass playing. Often concentrating on the mid to lower registers of his instrument (in contradistinction to many of his contemporaries, who like to work the upper registers), he is in some ways a kind of throwback to earlier stylists, but his own harmonic and rhythmic sophistication makes him an innovator of the order. Rubalcaba's playing and arrangements also add mightily to the mix. What's he's done is penetrate to the melancholy, wistful heart of this music without sinking into sentimentality.

Add Joe Lovano on tenor sax, the up-and-coming Miguel Zenon on alto sax, Lionel Loueke on guitar (who greatly livened up Nicholas Payton's latest disc), and other players of note, and you've got a crew of master musicians making music that is not only beautiful but consequential.

Wonderfully evocative.

11 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Relaxing, Sweet and Fresh., January 11, 2007

By 

W. Noshie (Beirut, Lebanon) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Land of the Sun (Audio CD)

This is how I describe "Land of the Sun":
Soft, mellow and relaxing, without any musical instruments confusion; every note and every sound from these fine 10 musicians is so well heard and appreciated. The Bongo played by Juan De La Cruz is a beautiful sound addition on every track and the Stereo recording is very well distributed. Charlie Haden is not trying to show what a great player he is; he is simply making a great soft Jazz album full of taste and sweet melodies.
Pour yourself a glass of wine, put this album in your CD player and enjoy this beautiful relaxing jazz masterpiece of Charlie Haden. "Land of the Sun"

16 of 20 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Nice, But Missing Something, January 24, 2005

By 

George C. Love (Prestonsburg, Kentucky USA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Land of the Sun (Audio CD)

I came to Charlie Haden's music via Nocturne a couple of years ago. With much of the cast back for this recording I find it enjoyable, but a little disappointing. Nocturne seemed able to maintain a slight edge that allowed the music to be soft and deeply felt and didn't fall over the edge into background music. Land of the Sun doesn't quite pull that off. It really is quite beautiful and I love Gonzalo Rubalcaba's piano work, but the edge just isn't there this time out. If you don't have Nocturne let me guide you in that direction.