Customer Reviews

The Montreal Tapes

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

 

 

What ? A gem ? More than that. A masterpiece !
During the Montreal festival and over the course of eight days (in July 1989) great double-bass player Charlie Haden (a man of conviction like Charles Mingus) performed with great musicians (pianists Paul Bley and Gonzalo Rubalcaba, trumpeter Don Cherry, drummer Paul Motian, and here, late tenor saxophone player Joe Henderson). The group also comprises superlative drummer Al Foster (reminding of Tony Williams). This album consists of
1) very famous Monk theme Round Midnight (12'00)
2) another famous standard the Kern/Hamerstein All The things You are (19'19)
3) an original by Charlie Haden free-like-tune (In the moment, 14'41)
4) and superlative and rare Charlie Parker's Passport (21'00). All in all the set is free enough for the musicians to interact with talent. No piano here. But they are used to. Joe Henderson had already recorded with the same killers (cf. "an evening with Joe Henderson" in 1987)... The result is beyond all I can write.
PS critics often reproached Joe for his dirty sound. I never knew what they meant... Here it's a strong, sometimes, harsh sound, Coltrane like, but no dirty sound... Joe was often lauded as a little master. But when you hear this Montreal Tape, you don't say he was a little master, you say he was a genuine MASTER. Another remark for those who are only used to the Verve recordings(mellower sound). On these Montreal Tapes, the sound might (will) "sound" different to you. To me it's fine, but to you it might sound harsher.
Anyway, for those like me who like the work of great Joe, this is one of HIS BEST (along with his trio with Ron Carter and Al Foster at The Village Vanguard, "State of The Tenor" (1985)+ An Evening with Joe Henderson(1987)...
Check out.

I love Charlie Haden's Quartet West recordings and I enjoy all the work I've heard by him. He may be the most innovative contemporary bassist and is a superb band leader to boot. Joe Henderson did not always get the critical respect he deserved, as witnessed by his excellent playing on this session.

This is a fine recording that effectively underscores why acoustic jazz is usually more compelling in a live, rather than studio, setting. The playing is warm and spirited throughout and Al Foster (drums) gets to really stretch out on a couple of occasions.

Unfortunately, "In The Moment" is the type of pure improvisation that comes across better in a concert setting than out of your stereo speakers. Nevertheless, a very worthwhile concert document overall.

I bought this album after hearing some samples and I thought it would be great, but I was a little disappointed. I am a big fan of Joe Henderson. I guess I respect Charlie Haden, but sometimes his pacing can be slow. I have seen Joe Henderson perform live (playing Ellington and Strayhorn tunes) in a trio with George Mraz and Al Foster and it was a lot livelier. It may be that Joe is mellowing out in deference to Charlie. Don't get me wrong, I have enjoyed Charlie's Quartet West featuring Ernie Watts over the years. They were great in person when I saw them. It may be that this combination of songs did not bring out the best from the group.

Joe Henderson seemed to have a period of wide popularity during the late 80's and early 90's, greater than he enjoyed during his 60's heyday. I remember getting some of the recordings he made during this period and was'nt all that impressed, the only one I thought was ok was the one with McCoy Tyner. Then I discovered this '89 Montreal concert that had been recorded for radio broadcast but not officially released on cd until many years later. Well this is some of the better playing I've heard Joe Henderson do. The whole trio is great, Charlie Haden always remarkable on bass, and Al Foster drums- who also plays on Henderson's recording with McCoy Tyner (New York Reunion). Considering Haden's association with Ornette Coleman and Henderson's own ventures into modal playing one might think there would be more of an avant garde style to the performance, but the only out tune is "In the moment". Other than that this set reminds me more of Sonny Rollin's trio work of the late 50's and early 60's. Live recording quality is generally good- Joe wanders off mike a number of times, particularly during "Round Midnight" and there is an edit/fade out on "all the things you are" that I could have done without- why do they edit things out that would fit on the disc anyway, since it was recorded for radio the complete performance was recorded, why not release the complete performance? Anyway I digress. There are bass and/or drum solos on all tracks, which some may find tedious, but I thought the solos were all very good. I'd recommend this CD to any jazz fan who likes Henderson or Haden. I'd also suggest "Alone Together" which is a nice Bass/Sax/piano trio recording that Haden made with Lee Konitz (also recorded live).

Charlie Haden is not an artist I'm terribly familiar with, but he shows up in the Core Collection of The Penguin Guide to Jazz Recordings: Eighth Edition (Penguin Guide to Jazz Recordings), so when I had a chance to pick up this CD for a song (sorry), I decided to go for it to experience and learn about this artist. Overall, I'm happy with my purchase, but I have to warn you, gentle readers: this is live jazz, four songs over sixty five minutes, so you have to be a true live jazz connoisseur to appreciate this recording in any measure. Unfortunately, I'm not much for recorded live jazz. That said, on this CD I really enjoy when the trio is going full steam, and we've got melody and harmony and rhythm going, and then when the players improvise with the others backing them, I like that too. But, when Charlie takes a twelve minute bass solo, I'm lost in the forest of improv and after about two minutes, I just don't care anymore. Amazingly, I even tried counting to see if he was still with the song or just looping around. That was no help. There were drum solos of similar meanderings, and sax solos with moments of clarity, but for the most part, when the individual musicians are playing on their own without accompaniment, they leave the average listener (me) confused and disoriented. As the title of this review suggests, I just do not possess the awareness and knowledge of jazz necessary to appreciate this type of recorded live music. Many years from now, when my jazz experience has doubled or tripled, I've no doubt I'll pull this out, put it on, and go, "Wow!", but today is not that day. Live jazz fans and fans of Haden and the feted Joe Henderson will likely enjoy this CD a lot, but I can't recommend it to casual jazz listeners.

First of all, the editorial review is wrong. This was recorded at the _Montreal_ Jazz Festival, not the Montreux Jazz Festival. This kind of kills Thom Jurek's credibility.

Regardless, this is a great recording by a great group of artists.

This is only my second Charlie Hayden CD, and my second Joe Henderson disc, but together in Montreal in live performance, they are quite good. The show was done in 1989, and while Joe and Charlie and drummer Al Foster were not exactly young, even then, they were powerful. Here you get more than an hour of improvisation, starting with Monk's "Round Midnight" and proceding to the classic "All The Things You Are" by Jerome Kern and Oscar Hammerstein. Then Haden's original tune, "In the Moment" takes up nearly 15 minutes, until the disc concludes with Charlie Parker's "Passport", a long, strange but satisfying trip of nearly 21 minutes. Those who are totally unfamiliar with the Mingus/Monk/Coltrane/Coleman style of jazz might find this a bit rough on the ears, but if you have heard the masters I listed, and like their works, you should love this. I don't care for mid-60's "avant-garde" jazz much, or for the fusion and funky jazz of the '70's, yet I like this album a lot. To my ear, it is more like the classic jazz of the '50's, just tweaked a bit. Tweaked by geniuses, that is.