Metheny Tokyo

One of a pair of recordings made during a tour of Japan for Paddlewheel (a subsidiary of King), the Jim Hall Trio, with bassist Don Thompson and drummer Terry Clarke, is in top form during this 1976 concert. The opener, Charlie Parker's "Billie's Bounce," is an introspective interpretation, though played with plenty of fire, while "Twister," a duo performance credited to both Hall and Clarke, may very well be an improvisation. A quiet piece like the excerpt from Rodrigo's "Concierto de Aranjeuz" is tailor-made for Hall's often subtle, rather understated approach to his instrument. First-rate versions of "Chelsea Bridge" and "St. Thomas" round out this highly recommended live set.

One of a pair of recordings made during a tour of Japan for Paddlewheel (a subsidiary of King), the Jim Hall Trio, with bassist Don Thompson and drummer Terry Clarke, is in top form during this 1976 concert. The opener, Charlie Parker's "Billie's Bounce," is an introspective interpretation, though played with plenty of fire, while "Twister," a duo performance credited to both Hall and Clarke, may very well be an improvisation. A quiet piece like the excerpt from Rodrigo's "Concierto de Aranjeuz" is tailor-made for Hall's often subtle, rather understated approach to his instrument. First-rate versions of "Chelsea Bridge" and "St. Thomas" round out this highly recommended live set.

Ai Shinohara just released August 22nd with the latest work "To The End Of This World" which co-starred with the up-and-coming creators. A dream team by her and Will Lee and Steve Gadd returned to Blue Note Tokyo after a year and three months. For Sugawara, Will and Gadd have been super heroes since she opened her eyes on jazz and fusion when she was in elementary school. I was fascinated by their performance hundreds of times with records, CDs, videos, live, etc. I dreamed that I could play with them someday. That was the first time in February 2017. This live, in addition to the numbers from the commemorative album 'Somehow, Someday, Somewhere', is a stage more than the last time from the last time to the original written down and the cover song surprisingly surprised.

A magnificent set from the team of Art Farmer and Jim Hall - one of those rare pairings in jazz that somehow comes off sounding even way better than the sum of its parts - and that's saying a lot, given that the parts here are already pretty darn great! Farmer's flugelhorn and Hall's guitar create these wonderful shapes in sound - softly coming together with a vibe that's very modern, yet also soulful - gently swinging while still experimenting - with a combination that's completely wonderful! Think of Bob Brookmeyer and Clark Terry, or Bill Evans and Jim Hall - and you'll be somewhere in the territory of these magically unique sounds - augmented with some gentle rhythm work by Steve Swallow on bass and Walter Perkins on drums.

The premise of this Atlantic set is a bit unusual. The Art Farmer Quartet (consisting of flügelhornist Farmer, guitarist Jim Hall, bassist Steve Swallow, and drummer Pete LaRoca), which was together from 1962-1964 (after the demise of the Jazztet), was passing through Stockholm, Sweden at the time of this date and the musicians felt inspired to record a full album of traditional Swedish folk songs. Respect is paid to the often haunting melodies, and Farmer sounds quite at home in this context, sometimes hinting a bit at Chet Baker. Fortunately, not all of the tunes are taken at a ballad pace, and once the themes are fully stated, Farmer and Hall have plenty of harmonically sophisticated solos. The band's cool and restrained style suits the music perfectly, turning it into jazz without losing its essence. Although a brief set (at under 33 minutes), every note counts on this successful outing.

A magnificent set from the team of Art Farmer and Jim Hall - one of those rare pairings in jazz that somehow comes off sounding even way better than the sum of its parts - and that's saying a lot, given that the parts here are already pretty darn great! Farmer's flugelhorn and Hall's guitar create these wonderful shapes in sound - softly coming together with a vibe that's very modern, yet also soulful - gently swinging while still experimenting - with a combination that's completely wonderful! Think of Bob Brookmeyer and Clark Terry, or Bill Evans and Jim Hall - and you'll be somewhere in the territory of these magically unique sounds - augmented with some gentle rhythm work by Steve Swallow on bass and Walter Perkins on drums.