Wittle Charlie

Charlie Haden Quartet West - Haunted Heart (1991) {Verve 314 513 078-2}
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© 1991 Verve Records / Gitanes Jazz Productions | 314 513 078-2
Jazz / Neo-Bop / Bass

Charlie Haden loves film as much as music, combining both loves on the critically acclaimed Haunted Heart. Haden led his tremendous group Quartet West through 12 numbers, several, like Cole Porter's "Every Time We Say Goodbye," and Alan Broadbent's "Lady In The Lake," Arthur Schwartz and Howard Dietz's "Haunted Heart," and even the short introduction, with film ties and/or links. Haden transferred vocals on some numbers from Jeri Southern, Billie Holiday and Jo Stafford into the mix without disrupting or disturbing the group framework. Quartet West has emerged as a premier small combo, and Haden nicely paid tribute to the past without being held hostage to it.

As authentic as the lines on his forehead and his droopy eyes, veteran bluesman Charlie Musselwhite gets better with age. (At 62, he's a respected survivor with dozens of albums to his credit.) On Delta Hardware the journeyman musician pays tribute to, and revels in, his Mississippi roots. Although he's spent time in Chicago and on the West Coast, for this album of churning swamp and deep Southern blues he taps his formative years in the town of Kosciusko. Musselwhite's poignant voice and crying harmonica convey loss and sadness on the tense, swirling "Black Water," one of two tracks dealing with Hurricane Katrina. His full-bodied, amplified harp cuts like Paul Butterfield and especially Little Walter, two of whose songs he covers here.

It should come as no surprise that Land of the Sun, a collection of Mexican ballads written by three of Mexico's most prominent modern composers, is yet another chapter in Charlie Haden's continually unfolding musical biography. Haden was given a folder of songs by the late and legendary Mexican composer José Sabre Marroquín by his daughter as a thank-you for his recording of "Nocturnal." Haden went over the tunes and decided to record some of them; he turned them over to pianist Gonzalo Rubalcaba for arranging, employed a stellar band, and Land of the Sun is the end result. What a result. There are eight compositions by Marroquín and one each by Augustín Lara and Armando Manzanero, in their own right prolific and revered songwriters who have been recorded in this country by Presley, Sinatra, and Bennett, to name a few.

It would seem a strange thing compiling the work of Charlie Haden's decade-long Quartet West Group onto a single disc. The reason isn't that they recorded so much material, but more because the material was themed record by record. Yet that is exactly why a compilation like this does work, because this group played music utilizing different aspects of the same theme: to evoke the spirits, ghosts and sprites of a Los Angeles that has moved off the screen of real life into the stuff of myth. That Haden and his group, which included drummer Larance Marable (who replaced Billy Higgins after the group's first, self-titled album in 1986), saxophonist Ernie Watts, and pianist Alan Broadbent could make it all sound so present and real, gives the impression that there was truth in the images. This is not only from a West Coast point of view (though there it is imbued more with the striking visual reveries to accompany the tunes) but also in the popular culture mythos in the collective American mind.

Keith Jarrett & Charlie Haden - Jasmine (2010) {ECM 2165}
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© 2010 ECM Records | ECM 2165
Jazz / Contemporary Jazz / Mainstream Jazz / Piano / Bass

The reason to mention the "particulars" of this document of informal sessions is because Keith Jarrett went to the trouble of doing so in his liner notes: they came about in the aftermath of him and Charlie Haden playing together during a documentary film about Haden. The duo, who hadn't played together in over 30 years, got along famously and decided to do some further recording in Jarrett's home studio without an end result in mind. The tapes sat – though were discussed often – for three years before a decision was made to release them. Jarrett used his home Steinway instead of his usual concert Boisendorfer.

Charlie Parker Records: The Complete Collection, Vol. 15 - Miles Davis + Lester Young (2012 CP Records 233193/15 rec 1946-47}
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© 1946-47, 2012 Charlie Parker Records / Membran Media / Documents | 233193 / 15
Jazz / Bop / Mainstream Jazz / Trumpet / Saxophone

Exhaustive 30 CD collection from the Jazz legend's short-lived label. Contains 44 original albums (421 tracks) plus booklet. Every record-collector has run across an album with the little sax-playing bird in it's label-logo, right next to the brand name Charlie Parker Records or CP Parker Records. Turning the sleeve over, especially if it was one of the non-Parker releases, and seeing a '60s release date under the header Stereo-pact! Was as exciting an experience as it was confusing. Was the claim Bird Lives meant more literally than previously thought?

Charlie Mariano - Charlie Mariano Quartet (1955) {Bethlehem Japan CDSOL-6063 rel 2013}
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© 1955, 2013 Bethlehem / Solid Records Japan | CDSOL-6063
Jazz / Bop / Saxophone

Reissue. Features the latest remastering. Includes a Japanese description, lyrics. Features original cover artwork. Bethlehem released The Charlie Mariano Quartet in 1954 when altoist Charlie Mariano was at the prime of his bebop period. Mariano, whose alto tone mixes together Benny Carter and Charlie Parker, is accompanied by a quiet and supportive rhythm section comprised of pianist John Williams, bassist Max Bennett, and drummer Mel Lewis. Switching to tenor on four of the dozen selections, Mariano sounds in excellent form on ten standards, a blues, and his own "Floormat." A swinging cool bop date.

Charlie Parker Records: The Complete Collection, Vol. 16 - Lester Young (2012 CP Records 233193/16 rec 1948-1950}
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© 1948-50, 2012 Charlie Parker Records / Membran Media / Documents | 233193 / 16
Jazz / Bop / Mainstream Jazz / Saxophone

Exhaustive 30 CD collection from the Jazz legend's short-lived label. Contains 44 original albums (421 tracks) plus booklet. Every record-collector has run across an album with the little sax-playing bird in it's label-logo, right next to the brand name Charlie Parker Records or CP Parker Records. Turning the sleeve over, especially if it was one of the non-Parker releases, and seeing a '60s release date under the header Stereo-pact! Was as exciting an experience as it was confusing. Was the claim Bird Lives meant more literally than previously thought?

Charlie Hunter & Scott Amendola - The Cars, Hank Williams, Duke Ellington, Cole Porter (2014) {Charlie Hunter Music}
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© 2014 Charlie Hunter Music | [none]
Jazz / Modern Post Bebop / Groove / 7-string Guitar / Drums

A collection of four 5-track EPs from Hunter and Amendola, each focusing on the music of a particular artist or act. The project opens with ingenious distillations of Duke Ellington/Billy Strayhorn gems such as “Rockin’ In Rhythm,” “Daydream” and “Mood Indigo.” From Cole Porter’s songbook, they interpret standards, including “Too Darn Hot,” “Every Time We Say Goodbye” and “Anything Goes.” Country music and jazz are often cast as antithetical styles, but the truth is far more complicated.