SLAMCD 320 George Haslam’s FreeTime
Personnel – FreeTime Quartet ~ George Haslam, baritone sax, tarogato; Swetja, guitars, fujara, saw; Jozef Laska, contrabass; Petr Zimak drums.
Plus guests as detailed :
Track 1 Alternative Prelude 2m 34s
Alterna Club, Brno, 24 March 02
2 Hupky Dupky 6 48
Alterna Club, Brno, 24 March 02 .
3 First Bass 2 28
Josef Láska, bass solo.
Jazz Club Železná, Prague, 11 Nov. 02
4 Muffs 1 46
Jazz Club Železná, Prague, 27 March 02
Marcel Bárta, sop sax, George Haslam bari sax duet.
5 Wails from the Crypt 5 21
Jazz Club Železná, Prague, 11 Nov. 02
6 Sagem Blues 3 48
Jazz Club Železná, Prague, 11 Nov. 02
Freetime Quartet + Mark Aanderud piano
7 Mark’s Mode 9 50
Jazz Club Železná, Prague, 11 Nov. 02
Mark Aanderud piano, George Haslam baritone sax duet.
8 Second Bass 1 50
Divadlo 29, Pardubice, 25 Feb 04
Josef Láska, bass solo.
9 Trust Nature 4 43
Divadlo 29, Pardubice, 25 Feb 04
Freetime Quartet + Tönu Nassoo piano
10 Relaxing in Pardubice 10 09
Divadlo 29, Pardubice, 25 Feb 04
Freetime Quartet + Tönu Nassoo piano
11 Sweets 4 46
Švandovo Divadlo, Prague, 24 Feb. 04
Freetime Quartet +Steve Waterman tpt + Tönu Nassoo piano +Jarda Kořán pcn + Vojtech Havel cello.
12 Farewell Prague 4 45
Švandovo Divadlo, Prague, 24 Feb. 04
Freetime Quartet +Steve Waterman tpt + Tönu Nassoo piano +Jarda Kořán pcn + Vojtech Havel cello.
Czechoslovakian George Haslam formed his FreeTime Quartet in 2002 and, with the assistance of a Czech National Radio person and a noted jazz club owner, has toured regularly across the Czech Republic and occasionally beyond. Milos Latislav, the radio man, named the band to reflect its open and freely based improvisation over positive rhythms and this recording is a document of the band - Haslam on baritone sax and tarogato, Swetja on guitars, fujara (a European overtone flute) and Petr Zimak on drums - playing live with guest stars from a number of countries (Mexico, England, etc.).
"Alternative Prelude", the album’s opener, sets the tone for what’s to come. Over a sort of drone, Haslam floats spaciously and soulfully on tarogato, a Hungarian single-reed instrument. Haslam suggests the freedom of the avant garde jazzers but often moves in to the realm of folk-based music including, even, the blues. Many of the tunes are short simply displaying a flash of a mood, but the spirit of this truly openhearted musician shines through.
"Alternative Prelude", the album’s opener, sets the tone for what’s to come. over a sort of drone, Haslam floats spaciously and soulfully on tarogato, a Hungarian single-reed instrument. Haslam suggests the freedom of the avant garde jazzers but often moves in to the realm of folk-based music including, even, the blues. many of the tunes are short simply displaying a flash of a mood, but the spirit of this truly openhearted musician shines through.
Donald Elfman AllAboutJazz – New York, May 2006
George Haslam’s Freetime
JAZZ Review, August 2005
One of the few really free spirits of British jazz, baritone saxman George Haslam has spent much of his career collaborating with kindred spirits across the globe. In the course of his peregrinations he has performed in Cuba and Argentina – one of the first to do so – and Eastern Europe. This set keeps up that tradition, documenting gigs and collaborations with the Czech quartet Freetime in local clubs across the republic between 2002 and 2004. While the emphasis may be on isolating differing regional characteristics in the style of music the group plays as they travel around the country, Haslam demonstrates a fine discerning ear in editing and collating what must have been mountains of material into a cohesive and vibrant set that consciously eschews any hint of novelty. Indeed when Haslam takes up the tarogato – to quote Messrs Cook and Morton in the Penguin Guide to Jazz on CD, "a Hungarian instrument of parallel antiquity to the saxophone" – he succeeds in amplifying the pastoral idioms latent in so much Eastern European music. But if the pastoral idioms are embraced this is not to the exclusion of all else, Haslam and his gang sometimes embark on very free improvisations before reverting to some post-bop riffing.
At its heart Haslam’s Freetime is more about having a good time exploring fresh avenues to see what will happen next, so to that extent one cannot regard this set as a fully-rounded body of work. But as a journal and a voyage of discovery it is very persuasive and endlessly intriguing, providing plenty of room for speculation over which way Haslam will jump next.
Hugh Gregory Jazz Review, August 2005
Jazz News July 2005
George Haslam's FreeTime SLAMCD 320
George Haslam (bs, tarogao); Jozef Laska (b); Petr Zimok, Jaroslav Koron (d); Swetja (g, fujara, steel g, saw); Mark Aanderud, Tonu Naissoo (p); Steve Waterman (t); Marcel Barta (ss); Vojtech Havel (clo Recorded 24/03/02, 11/11/02 and 24-5/02/04, Brno, Prague and Pardubice, Czech Republic
Until recently I was only aware of George Haslam in his role with the Latin-based Plaza Jazz Trio and their collaboration with Stekpanna on the excellent Latin from the North album, but when, a while back, I happened upon an entry for him in the monumental (and not very Brit-friendly) Penguin Guide to Jazz on CD, I was intrigued to learn of his other identity as a respected free-improv player. I knew of his reputation as an incorrigible musical itinerant: in the past he’s made visits to Argentina, Cuba and (I think I heard) Albania, among other places, playing with local musicians and occasionally releasing the results on his own Abingdon-based Slam label. The man must run a bulging address book. This album is evidence of the latter side to his work. It is, as the sleeve points out, a series of recordings of "the Freetime Quartet and their musician guests in the three-year period of impro concerts around the music clubs of the Czech Republic." As such it functions almost like an album of snapshots, and as you will know from looking at other people’s photo albums, the experience is only as interesting as the contents of the snaps".
Luckily, there’s a lot of interesting stuff on display here, and none of it outstays its wecome. What I mean by this is that extended free pieces are all very well from a self-expression point of view, but I’ve always felt that even most solo players struggle to sustain interest over long periods, and when you’ve got three or four improvising together, the high points when they interlock are inevitably interspersed with periods of casting around for the next collective breakthrough. Releasing extracts from a longer performance is a way round this, even if it can come across as a bit episodic. The longest track here, Relaxing in Pardubice, is a 10 minute slow build over a bass pulse, while the shortest, a folky-sounding baritone/soprano duet intriguingly called Muffs, is less than two minutes long. Occasionally, the brevity can be a bit frustrating, for instance on Sweets, where Steve Waterman’s Miles Davis-like trumpet just seems to be hitting its stride when it fades. Elsewhere, as on the two and a half minute bass solo, some might be grateful. Overall, though, this is best described as a series of moods and atmospheres, from the muezzin call drama of the opening Alternative Prelude featuring George’s tarogato (a Hungarian reed instrument) and sounding rather like the psalm part of A Love Supreme to the more wistful Hupky Dupky. In between, there’s the fast country blues of Trust Nature (not so much Trane-like as train-like, complete with steel guitar), the playful Sagem Blues and Wails from the Crypt, which kind of explains itself. There is, I repeat, a lot of music here to hold the attention - it may be freely improvised but it nearly always maintains a rhythmic pulse and remains melodic enough not to be intimidating to non-devotees.
UnAMERICAN ACTIVITIES #65 George Haslam by Ken Waxman 10 October 2005
An instigator of more foreign exchange from the United Kingdom than the foreign office or any number of 18th Century British explorers, peripatetic baritone saxophonist George Haslam has forged alliances with fellow improvisers in places where the British Empire’s sun never set. He led the first British jazz group to play in Cuba, was the first British jazz musician to play in Argentina, and now works regularly in those places as well as Mexico and throughout Eastern Europe—particularly Hungary and the Czech Republic. While his touring bands usually include fellow Brits like drummer Paul Hession and trombonist Paul Rutherford, he also welcomes becoming part of local aggregations. The 12-track collection 2002*2003*2004 (SLAM) attests to that.
FreeTime is the base quartet here consisting of Haslam on baritone sax and tarogato, plus Czechs Jozef Láska on bass guitar and bass, drummer Petr Zimák and the single-named Swetja on midi guitar, steel guitar and—most distinctively—singing saw and fujara, a flageolet style, deep-bass Slovakian shepherd’s flute, which is to flutes as the Didgeridoo is to trumpets. Recorded at different times and in different locations in the Czech Republic, guest musicians from the U.K., Estonia, Mexico, and locally appear on several tracks as well.
To be truthful, a couple of the sitters-in spice up the tracks on which they’re featured. A case in point is "Trust Nature". Here with the Jerry Lee Lewis-like pumping piano of Estonian Tonu Naissoo added to the basic quartet, and Swetja playing steel guitar as if he was Nashville session cat Pete Drake, the performance echoes Paducah, Kentucky, more than Pardubice, Czech Republic where it was recorded. Granted the kinetic dynamics don’t make it western swing, but it is a refreshing bagatelle. The piece could have been even better, but unfortunately the tune fades just as Haslam begins blowing. Other tracks as well are afflicted with similar untoward fades.
Naissoo is also present for "Relaxing in Pardubice", holding down the beat with drummer Zimák, as Láska’s ringing bass guitar accents back up Swetja’s coarse fujara vibrations. With Zimák’s shuffle preventing the tune from a becoming a Slovak folk dance, the fujara tones mix it up with vibrated tarogoto output, finally harmonizing in triple counterpoint as Haslam blows both his horns in tandem.
Swetja’s third implement is given its showcase on the descriptive "Wails from the Crypt", with percussionist Jaroslav Korán substituting for Zimák. Manipulating his singing-saw like other workshop implement masters such as Roy Brooks and Paul Lovens, Swetja adds its ghostly chafing textures to Láska’s bass tones. An aural picture of Transylvanian vampires flying in and out of a haunted castle’s windows is the end result. Meanwhile, the saxman adds curvaceous smears to the quivering wingspan sounds, but irritatingly, the tune fades before he completes his thoughts.
The other outstanding track, "Mark’s Mode", features Haslam and its namesake, Mexican pianist Mark Aanderud. Here, the reedist’s harsh tongue-stops and breath control are matched with high-frequency cadences and chiming chords from the keyboardist. Offering a cascade of irregularly voiced, but cohesive patterns, Aanderud assembles Latinesque tremolos with the same intensity that Haslam creates new forms from warm mouthfuls of slurred vibrato.
On the other hand, "Sagem Blues", a quartet piece that replaces Swetja’s strings with Aanderud’s piano doesn’t fare as well. Bluesier—perhaps as a lampoon—than a conventional blues, it floats on the bassist’s steady pulse, with the pianist’s mainstream comping and the baritone saxophonist’s legato output making it sounds like a straight-ahead cop from Gerry Mulligan’s final decade, when the American baritone saxophonist finally came to terms with the piano.
No major compositional or performance breakthrough, 2002*2003*2004 still showcases some little heard Eastern European soloists. It also confirms that senior citizen status has enhanced rather than limited Haslam’s creative power and restless search for new playing partners.
Steve Baxter
FREETIME AAJ/NY Donald Elfman Brit George Haslam formed his FreeTime Quartet in 2002 and, with the assistance of a Czech National Radio person and a noted jazz club owner, has toured regularly across the Czech Republic and occasionally beyond. Milos Latislav, the radio man, named the band to reflect its open and freely based improvisation over positive rhythms and this recording is a document of the band - Haslam on baritone sax and tarogato, Swetja on guitars, fujara (a European overtone flute) and Petr Zimak on drums - playing live with guest stars from a number of countries (Mexico, England, etc.). "Alternative Prelude", the album's opener, sets the tone for what's to come. Over a sort of drone, Haslam floats spaciously and soulfully on tarogato, a Hungarian single-reed instrument. Haslam suggests the freedom of the avant garde jazzers but often moves into the realm of folk-based music including, even, the blues. Many of the tunes are short simply displaying a flash of a mood, but the spirit of this truly open- hearted musician shines through. Tracks and Personnel Tracks: Alternative Prelude; Hupky Dupky; First Bass; Muffs; Wails from the Crypt; Sagem Blues; Mark's Mode; Second Bass; Trust Nature; Relaxing in Pardubice; Sweets; Farewell Prague. Personnel: George Haslam: baritone sax, tarogato; Swetja: guitars, fujara, saw; Jozef Laska: contrabass; Petr Zimak: drums.
