Customer Reviews

Quartet West

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Haden gives a brief history of the foundation of Quartet West in the sleevenotes of 1996's 'Now is the Hour': in 1979 he moved back from New York to LA, where he met his wife-to-be, Ruth Cameron in 1984. Apparently it was her idea to recruit a band for Haden in LA. And this is the band's first recording, from 1987.

It's an altogether more modest affair than Haden's previous ensemble pieces on 'Ballad of the Fallen' and 'Liberation Music Orchestra', but it is intelligent and subtle. 'Taney County' features a beautiful solo by Haden, dedicated to his father and mother, with whom he used to sing on the 'Haden Family Radio Show' from 1939 to 1953. (You'll need to buy 'The Art of The Song' to see an archive photo of the family.) Haden makes his bass sing with a mixture of rich tonal colours and timing changes.

The stand-out tracks for me are new versions of Pat Metheny's 'Hermitage' (which got me racing back to the original, a track I had barely noticed on 'New Chautauqua'), of the Washington/Young song 'My Foolish Heart', and a new Haden tune 'Bay City'.

This album, by the way, features on drums Billy Higgins, who died this month (May 2001). His replacement about ten years ago by Larance Marable is the only personnel change the Quartet has undergone.

Thankfully there is no singing on this CD. This is one of the best Quartet West albums, and I am amazed that no-one has yet reviewed it for ....

Haden gives a brief history of the foundation of Quartet West in the sleevenotes of 1996's 'Now is the Hour': in 1979 he moved back from New York to LA, where he met his wife-to-be, Ruth Cameron in 1984. Apparently it was her idea to recruit a band for Haden in LA. And this is the band's first recording, from 1987.

It's an altogether more modest affair than Haden's previous ensemble pieces on 'Ballad of the Fallen' and 'Liberation Music Orchestra', but it is intelligent and subtle. 'Taney County' features a beautiful solo by Haden, dedicated to his father and mother, with whom he used to sing on the 'Haden Family Radio Show' from 1939 to 1953. (You'll need to buy 'The Art of The Song' to see an archive photo of the family.) Haden makes his bass sing with a mixture of rich tonal colours and timing changes.

The stand-out tracks for me are new versions of Pat Metheny's 'Hermitage' (which got me racing back to the original, a track I had barely noticed on 'New Chautauqua'), of the Washington/Young song 'My Foolish Heart', and a new Haden tune 'Bay City'.

This album, by the way, features on drums Billy Higgins, who died this month (May 2001). His replacement about ten years ago by Larance Marable is the only personnel change the Quartet has undergone.

Thankfully there is no singing on this CD. This is one of the best Quartet West albums, and I am amazed that no-one has yet reviewed it for Amazon.

I purchased Charlie Haden's Quartet West when it was released in 1987 based on a review I read, I believe in Stereo Review. I instantly fell in love with the album. I'd never heard such soulful saxophone as played by Ernie Watts on the first track, Pat Metheny's Hermitage. Every song on this set is solid. The recording is among the cleanest, most dynamic you'll find. It makes a great demo CD to show off your sound system, but more than anything it's the music that will bring you back time and again to this CD. Just a solid set of straight ahead, swinging, acoustic jazz played marvelously by great musicians. I became a fan of Quartet West because of this release 23 years ago and have bought all the group's CDs since. While I highly recommend all of Quartet West releases, I consider this recording as the group's high-water mark.