Forthcoming Jarrett-Haden duets

[Guy Berger]

Apparently Keith and Charlie recently reunited to record an album of duets - it will be released in May according to Steve Lake at jazzcorner.

[king ubu]

There's a duo improvisation in the fine film about Haden (Ramblin' Man I think, by a Swiss director, discussed elsewhere on the board). It's painful to watch Jarrett... a CD might be interesting, though.

[sonnymax]

This is the perfect duo. With Haden's hearing loss, Jarrett's whining/squeaking might be tolerable. But for the rest of us....

[randyhersom]

Prayer from Death and the Flower (featuring just Haden and Jarrett) is an all time favorite. No question that I'm going to grab this when it comes out.

[Hot Ptah]

Their duet "Ellen David" from Haden's "Closeness" album is one of the few times when Jarrett has recorded something simple and direct, to my ears.

[jazzbo]

I don't get the complaints about the sounds he makes but oh well. I'll pick this up.

[RDK]

Two of my favorites on this one - I'm there!

[CJ Shearn]

is this a live thing like every other Jarrett or his first studio date in about 10 years?

[Guy Berger]

is this a live thing like every other Jarrett or his first studio date in about 10 years?

Studio... maybe if this is a hit they can talk Paul Motian to join them for a sequel!

[GregK]

This is the perfect duo. With Haden's hearing loss, Jarrett's whining/squeaking might be tolerable. But for the rest of us....

Wow, it took a whole 3 posts in for someone to whine about the usual noises, etc. Don't we ever get tired of this? Yeah, he makes noises. So what?

[JSngry]

I can't see this as being anything other than really really good or really really depressing.

[GA Russell]

Any idea what label? Jarrett records for ECM, but I read once that all ECM records are one-off deals. Doesn't Haden record for Universal?

[Chuck Nessa]

Gotta be ECM.

[Guy Berger]

1. For All We Know 2. Where Can I Go Without You 3. No Moon At All 4. One Day I'll Fly Away 5. Intro - I'm Gonna Laugh You Right Out Of My Life 6. Body And Soul 7. Goodbye 8. Don't Ever Leave Me

Jarrett's comments (published on amazon)

Music is an amazing thing. It doesn't exist as a stationary object. It moves in real time and can be uplifting both to the player and the listener. The melting, trans-figurative moment, that feeling of everything being there, just for an instant, that surrender that overcomes us as players (if we're good enough) and leads us on to the next pregnant second, patient in the knowledge that there always is, waiting in the wings, the next chance to feel this fullness and celebrate it (as it is only in the nature of art to produce it this way); to this we dedicate our lives. But it is not for us alone; it is also made for you, the listener, to feel these same feelings along with us, to participate and to also be uplifted by it. Art is dying in this world, and so is listening, as the world becomes more full of toys and special effects. With this death will come the undoing of many possible feelings: beautiful, tender, deep, trusting, true, sad, full of internal meaning and color. Closeness won't have to necessarily be physical. Intimacy will be hard to find. Communication will be lost. Here is some music for you. Take it and it's yours. Charlie and I are obsessed with beauty. An ecstatic moment in music is worth the lifetime of mastery that goes into it, because it can be shared. This recording was done in my small studio. It has very dry sound and we didn't want to have the recording sound like anything but exactly what we were hearing while we played. So it is direct and straightforward. I chose to use the American Steinway that really isn't at all in the best of shape, yet I have this strange connection with it, and it is better for a kind of informality and slight funkiness that was going to work with the music. With a choice of songs this good, it was hard not to become engaged right away. We did not rehearse per se, but went over chords when necessary. This was really a session that came as a result of doing an interview for a film about Charlie, after which we played a couple tunes. We had not played in over thirty years, but something magical happened and I then invited Charlie and his wife to the house to do some playing for a few days with no assurance that we'd have anything (including sound) that we'd want to release. Over close to three years we lived with these tapes, talked a lot about them, disputed over choices, but eventually I found Charlie to be the most remarkable and sensitive helper in getting this finally assembled. I wanted only the distilled essence of what we had, and it took some time to wean ourselves from going for hip solos or unevenly played tunes (even though they had wonderful things inside them). Some were too long; others were somehow out of character. Charlie and I listened to this many many times (mostly late at night) and became aware that there were some that just had more magic, more moments of surrender to the mood while retaining their essential integrity. This is what I was looking for; and then I had the unenviable job of finding the right order. After I thought I found it, Charlie called me and said, "How did you figure that out?" I think I said that none of the rational ideas of how to order things made sense, so I went into "not thinking" mode and came up with (dare I say it?) the only perfect order of these great versions.

I hope many of you can hear this on a good system. There are nuances abounding and the details make the music what it is. Jasmine is a night-blooming flower with a beautiful fragrance and I hope you can hear what went into this, as there is no way to do anything as touching as this by rehearsing it until it dies. This is spontaneous music made on the spot without any preparation save our dedication throughout our lives that we won't accept a substitute: it's either the real thing or it's nothing. It's either real life or it's a cartoon.

Call your wife or husband or lover in late at night and sit down and listen. These are great love songs played by players who are trying, mostly, to keep the message intact. I hope you can hear it the way we did.

[MomsMobley]

^^^^^^^^^^^^

INSIPID.

Jarrett, not Guy's quotation of, which is great for a laugh at other's ungodly sense of self-importance and superficial 'magic.'

Can any of you imagine Red Garland, Hampton Hawes or even near-death-but-still-earthy Bill Evans writing anything similar?

I hope putting green marker on the outer rim of the cd will make it sound like Keith hopes.

Chuck Jones cartoons infinitely greater than any/all Jarrett 'standards' too.

Take it and it's yours!

[AllenLowe]

I'm gonna buy the CD, put it on in my living room, and then cough and sneeze through the whole thing. While making frequent exits for the bathroom and saying "excuse me" very loudly to the imaginary old ladies sitting in the three seats between me and the aisle.

Edited April 6, 2010 by AllenLowe

[Dave James]

I hope many of you can hear this on a good system. There are nuances abounding and the details make the music what it is. Jasmine is a night-blooming flower with a beautiful fragrance and I hope you can hear what went into this, as there is no way to do anything as touching as this by rehearsing it until it dies. This is spontaneous music made on the spot without any preparation save our dedication throughout our lives that we won't accept a substitute: it's either the real thing or it's nothing. It's either real life or it's a cartoon.

Before I go ahead and gag on this, I had a thought. Maybe Mr. Jarrett would consider re-recording this CD and substituting a slide whistle or a Jew's harp or even a pocket comb with a piece of paper wrapped around it for what I assume will be the usual collection of honks, buzzes and wheezing. Then we as listeners would have the option of choosing real life (according to Keith) or a cartoon. I know which way I'd go.

[RDK]

typical responses

[JSngry]

Lots of musicians are full of shit, even great ones.

Keith's just not fool enough to try & cover it up.

[mjzee]

Here are some more quotes:

“Life is already complete,” he said. “You can’t learn what life is. And the only way you die is if something kills you. So if life and death are already understood, what are we doing?”

“Being a human, you’re required to be in unison: upright,” he said.

“I think he’s singing pure spiritual,” he said. “He’s making the sound of what he’s experiencing as a human being, turning it into the quality of his voice, and what he’s singing to is what he’s singing about. We hear it as ‘how he’s singing.’ But he’s singing about something. I don’t know what it is, but it’s bad.”

“That’s breath music,” he said, as big groups of singers harmonized in straight eighth-note patterns, singing plainly but with character. “They’re changing the sound with their emotions. Not because they’re hearing something.” But then we were off on another topic — whether a singer should seek a voicelike sound for his voice. “Isn’t it amazing that sound causes the idea to sound the way it is, more than the idea?” he asked.

“Right now, I’m trying to play the instrument,” he said, “and I’m trying to write, without any restrictions of chord, keys, time, melody and harmony, but to resolve the idea eternally, where every person receives the same quality from it, without relating it to some person.”

As you perhaps have guessed, the above quotes are not from Keith, but rather from Ornette (full article here). Are they really so different?

[JSngry]

Ornette's not so much full of shit as he is one to try to describe the wheel without using referring to a circlle because everybody already knows that.

Fine line, yeah, but Keith's always coming back to the preciousness of everything, which...it gets ripe quick.

Still, the guy can make great music - and fey nonsense - often enough (as can Haden), so I think that any "snide" blanket dismissals of a duet album by the two before hearing it are at best ill-advised.

[MomsMobley]

Point taken but Ornette hasn't been clogging our arteries or vas deferens with eight jillion lame-ass 'standards' records that need such a mewling excuse for 'guided appreciation.' It's hard to hold a grudge against Charlie Haden, of course, but as recording artist, sad to say he used up nearly as much of his goodwill as Ron Carter did.

Is there something seriously profound in Jarrett's improvisation or-- I'm being kind-- "recomposition" of moldering cocktail shit we can't all get better (and hopefully did), when it was fresh, from Oscar Levant?

[JSngry]

Clem's back? I hope?

[Rooster_Ties]

Clem's back? I hope?

I was just wondering if I'd ever "heard" that newbie's "voice" before myself.

[Dave James]

If it is Clem, welcome back. If Aric became Chewy so Clem can become MomsMobley. If it isn't Clem, well, welcome anyhow. I already like your style.