COMPOSERS: Haden,Jarrett
LABELS: ECM
ALBUM TITLE: Keith Jarrett • Charlie Haden: Last Dance
WORKS: Last Dance
PERFORMER: Keith Jarrett (piano), Charlie Haden (bass)
CATALOGUE NO: 378 0524
Like the artists themselves, this vintage music seems to improve with age. The session was recorded at Jarrett’s home in 2007, their first session together for 30 years. The ‘premier cru’ went into Jasmine, released in 2010 and the rest has been laying down ever since. But now, with Last Dance, we have
what might be called a ‘super second’, exhibiting all the mature elegance and refinement of its impressive predecessor.
As before, the programme is a selection of simply stated jazz classics – Monk’s ‘Round Midnight’ and Bud Powell’s sparkling ‘Dance of the Infidels’, as well as ballads like ‘My Old Flame’ and ‘Everything Happens To Me’.
The duo are immersed in one another’s playing, Jarrett uncovering hidden corners in the melodies with a low light, Haden sometimes savouring a familiar line to the point of suspension. ‘It’s like two people singing,’ Jarrett said of the reunion. Happily, his trademark humming isn’t a feature.
Garry Booth