On his SLAM label, George Haslam has recorded a large amount of exceptional music. His multifarious work encompasses collaborations with the likes of Nat Gonella, Arturo Sandoval, Derek Bailey, Victor Sylvester, Mal Waldron, Steve Lacy, Charlie Mariano, Stan Tracey, Valery Ponomarev and Joachim Kuhn. This disc, a tremendous addition to an already impressive catalogue, highlights the delicacy and emotional expressiveness of his playing. Except for Mingus' "Goodbye Pork Pie Hat", all the tracks are improvised - and the exchanges between these two men are superlative. There is a great peace pervading this recording from its first moments, in which Harris sets up a tremolo for Haslam's entrance on clarinet. Who's the leader? Both, or neither: because of the space and stillness of much of this music, even when it heats up, it's easy to hear how both are listening and taking up each other's lines. Haslam on clarinet is generally sweet and musing; on baritone he is stentorian and powerful - although his magnificent solo opening on "Woongarra" takes an unexpected twist just as Harris enters. The pianist, meanwhile, is capable of Mal Waldron-style drama (Waldron, after all, has also duetted to great effect with Haslam), but more often plays in an airier style, leaving shorter, less apparently contiguous phrases that suggest the well-chosen spaces of Frederic Rzewski's work with Steve Lacy and Irene Aebi. This music is characterized by long, searching meditative sections, punctuated by searing outbursts of staccato pianistics and acrobatic addenda from Haslam. But in the main this is a disc with a serenity and unabashed melodicism unusual in free improvisation. At the same time, these musicians are accomplished enough to avoid clichés of all kinds. Highly recommended.Robert Spencer, 'Cadence' September 2001 .
GEORGE HASLAM & RICHARD LEIGH HARRIS : Tredavoe Blue (Slam CD312).
I really enjoy duos partly, I think, because of the intimacy of two voices sharing and developing ideas. I especially enjoy duos involving sax/clarinet and piano and having heard George Haslam in particularly exciting settings before I looked forward to this. Happily, I can report that it was no disappointment.
The date of the recording of track one was 22nd November and so it is dedicated to Saint Cecilia, patron saint of music. I think she’d have appreciated the combination of breathy clarinet and sometimes dense, sometimes spare voice of the piano. A spacious, meditative duet that reminded me of the human qualities of certain acoustic instruments. There is an attractive shape to the piece as it unfolds to produce a weave of sounds spanning a range of moods and ending with a calm togetherness.
The baritone sax which opens the second track has a tough, grainy quality that contrasts well with the shimmerings of the piano. The gruff, agile sounds project a powerful voice alongside the sometimes fractured counterpoint of the keyboard. Sounds swell and ebb creating intense layers of sound. The track’s title is Woongarra an Aboriginal word meaning ‘to search out’ and that is borne out as each player explores the territory mapped out by the improvisation. Along with more turbulent voicings there are some delicate textures produced by using wind chimes and investigations within the piano’s interior.
The title track takes its name from a village in Cornwall and is dedicated to the Cornish painter John Piper whose work appears on the cd cover. It continues some of the mood of the previous track using muted sounds from inside the piano, letting them hang in the air, before both players become more strident. It is a piece of contrasts, creating strong rhythms and reflective passages and can be seen as a response to the art of Piper and the landscape he works with. At one point Haslam’s voice hovers over dark chords, yearning and swooping but always with absolute precision and control. A masterful piece of improvised music.
They tackle Goodbye Pork Pie Hat with a certain amount of reverence for both the composer and dedicatee and it is pleasing to hear the baritone lingering over the poignant melody and reminding us that no matter many times we’ve heard it we can still be moved by it. This short track, 5 minutes long, restrained and elegiac, is as near perfect a reading as any I’ve come across. It is also the only track which isn’t improvised.
The longest piece is Solstice Dances/Hymn and was recorded around the time of the winter solstice. It is the climax of the cd and a celebration, not just of winter fires but of each other’s playing and the tremendous vitality they generate. There are some superb passages where their voices are as totally integrated as it is possible to be and the resulting music is full of warmth, energy and imagination. They do take solo space of course but the overall feeling is one of togetherness. It is absorbing and inspired and brings me back to the sharing and intimacy I mentioned at the start. It invites the listener in too.
To wind up the proceedings Haslam produces the tarogato for Inside Job, a track which ostensibly sounds like a solo to begin with but also makes use of the piano interior. Haslam unleashes billowing lines which resonate over wood and strings creating fugitive nuances. It’s not entirely solo as Leigh Harris joins him with brittle, percussive effects and the piece ends without resolution but with a feeling that more would be welcome from this duo. I look forward to that. --Paul Donnelly-- Jazzitude
Tredavoe Blue George Haslam (Slam Records - GB - 2000)
All About Jazz Giugno 2001
George Haslam continues to explore the formula of the duet with pianists. After Mal Waldron, and the recent duo with the Hungarian Laszlo Gardony, his partner this time is Richard Leigh Harris: an English pianist with a classical background and a teacher of composition at Birmingham. Notwithstanding his long experience of written scores, Harris throws himself with abandon into this lengthy adventure of completely improvised pieces, becoming a capable partner to Haslam’s wind excursions. The first piece sees the English saxophonist grappling with the clarinet, an instrument with which he has not worked for years. The result is convincing – as is the album in its entirety. The long dialogue also includes a version of Charles Mingus’s famous composition, "Goodbye Pork Pie Hat", in which Harris additionally shows that he can deal with jazz in the strict sense. Harris is a very eclectic pianist, which gives the album its variety. His touch at the keys is combined with sounds elicited from the inside of his piano; but the album is no sterile quest for new expressive possibilities of the instruments. Haslam has a feeling for melody which allows him to find his way through the most complex mazes of sound, whether these are informed by rhythm, like the beginning of the long "Solstice Dance", or more abstract, like "Inside", managing intelligently to ‘recompose’ whatever the improvised music offers up, and to demonstrate that, even in this context, a tune may be perfectly acceptable. The Mingus composition is in a sense the fountainhead of this album: the two musicians are able to bring out new aspects, without deadening it. One of Haslam’s fundamental sources of inspiration is Lester Young, to whom this piece was dedicated. His ‘coolness’, his detached way of standing above the music, is brought into modern times by the English saxophonist. Tim Turan, the sound technician of Slam Records, is the third man of this recording, and gives satisfaction even to audio-buffs. Melody, total improvisation and one standard are brought together in one place. Rating: ****
Vittorio Lo Conte
George Haslam continua ad esplorare la formula del duo con pianisti. Questa volta ad accompagnarlo, dopo Mal Waldron e il recente duo insieme all`ungherese Laszlo Gardony, è Richard Leigh Harris, un pianista inglese di estrazione classica, insegnate di composizione a Birmingham. Nonostante la lunga esperienza con la musica scritta, Harris si lancia con disinvoltura in questa lunga avventura di pezzi completamente improvvisati trasformandosi in un capace partner per le escursioni dei fiati di Haslam. Il primo pezzo vede il sassofonista inglese alle prese con il clarinetto, uno strumento con il quale non lavorava da anni. Il risultato è convincente, come tutto l`album del resto. Il lungo dialogo dei due vede anche una versione di una famosa composizione di Charles Mingus, "Goodbye Pork-Pie Hat", in cui Harris mostra anche di sapersi confrontare con il jazz in senso stretto. Harris è un pianista molto eclettico, il che assicura varietà all'album; il suo tocco si combina con i suoni cercati all`interno del suo pianoforte, ma questo album non è una ricerca sterile di nuove possibilità espressive degli strumenti. Haslam ha un senso per la melodia che gli permette di orientarsi anche nei labirinti sonori più complessi, siano essi pervasi di ritmo, come l`inizio della lunga "Solstice Dance", o più astratti come "Inside", riuscendo a "ricomporre" sapientemente quanto è stato offerto dalla musica improvvisata e mostrare che la melodia anche in questo campo è perfettamente accettabile. La composizione di Mingus fa in un certo modo da spartiacque in questo album; i due musicisti sono in grado di metterne in evidenza nuovi aspetti, senza devitalizzarla. In fondo Lester Young, a cui questo pezzo fu dedicato, è uno degli ispiratori di Haslam. La sua coolness, il suo modo distaccato di stare al di sopra della musica viene proiettato dal sassofonista inglese nei tempi moderni. Tim Turam, il tecnico del suono della Slam Records, è il terzo uomo di questa incisione e lascia contenti anche gli audiofili. Melodia, improvvisazione totale e uno standard riescono a trovare un punto in comune. Valutazione: * * * *
