Track details
CD Title September Spring
Cat. No SLAMCD 321
Artist George Haslam, bass clarinet, baritone saxophone, tarogato.
Tracks:
1 Bajo profundoHaslam/Hurtado4:20
2 Baile con las pulgas Haslam/Hurtado/Straijer 6:30
3Cumbre Coghlan Harari/Haslam/Hurtado/Straijer6:40
4 4 x 1 + 1 x 4 Harari/Haslam/Hurtado/Straijer 10:50
5 La diana Haslam/Straijer3:50
6 La Tere Harari/Haslam 4:00
7 Amigos nuevos Greene/Haslam3:50
8 Tranquilo Ferrero/Greene/Haslam 5:00
9 Early morning train Ferrero/Greene/Haslam 3:30
10 A green riff Ferrero/Greene/Haslam 4:20
11 Wade in the water Traditional 8:00
12 Vidala y vidalaEspinosa/Ferrero/Haslam 7:40
Tracks 1 – 6 recorded 6 September, 2006 by Nestor Diaz at Huella Studios, Buenos Aires, Argentina.
With Daniel Harari tenor saxophone, Mono Hurtado double bass and Horacio Straijer percussion
Tracks 7 – 12 recorded 7 September 2006 by Jorge Beren at Estudios BAC Sound Buenos Aires, Argentina.
With Ruben Ferrero piano, kalimba, percussion and Hill Greene double bass.
Sleeve notes:
Two days in two Buenos Aires studios, Spring 2006. A chance to relax with friends after a hectic three weeks touring before returning to UK, play our own music, be natural in a relaxed environment. Back with four musicians I have worked with since my first visit to Argentina sixteen years earlier, plus a relatively new friend, Hill Green, with whom I had played for the first time in New York City earlier in the year and whose visit to Bs As happily coincided with mine.
The second new element was my bass clarinet, these are my first recordings on an instrument I am really enjoying.
The recordings are as they came out of the studios, not all the music from both sessions can fit on the disc but the twelve tracks we have are in the same order as recorded; I believe this is essential in improvised music because what you are playing is influenced by what you have previously played on the same session, in the same way a concert of improvised music develops as a whole, not as a programme of discreet isolated tunes.
"September Spring" finds Haslam at his best; his bass clarinet playing is light and resonant, he and bassist Mono Hurtado engaging in fine dialogue, even swapping registers to fine effect. Tenor man Daniel Harari is new to me, but his stridently romantic tone, invoking Ben Webster, is quite appealing. Instrumental combinations change throughout the disc, the final piano and baritone due exuding real trans-ethnic flavour thanks to Ruben Ferrero’s nationalistic pianism.
Marc Medwin Cadence July 2008.
Haslam has also been a courageous cultural ambassador to Argentina since the decade following the war in the Malvinas. He was the first British jazz musician to play in the country and began to record in Buenos Aires during his first visit in 1991.
He has cut three albums of his Argentine Adventures, playing with some truly impressive local musicians including pianist Ruben Ferrero and tenorist Daniel Harari.
On a more recent visit in September 2006 he recorded the sessions which compose the inspiring album September Spring, and by sheer coincidence this sojourn coincided with the visit of the eminent New York bassist Hilliard Greene who has been a pivotal presence on recordings by some of the prime US free spirits from trumpeter Roy Campbell and violinist Leroy Jenkins to tenorist Charles Gayle.
Argentinian bassist Mono Hurtado begins the opening track Bajo Profundo with a deep, deep volley like a fogbound ship on the River Plate estuary and Haslam's low entry is like a fellow lost craft - a low-down rhapsody indeed, beautifully played.
Percussionist Horacio Straijer splashes between Haslam's bass clarinet and Hurtado on Baile con las Pulgas and Harari's second horn gives Cumbre Coghlan and 4x1=1x4 an extra weight and fluidity, implanted by Hurtado's relentless and earthen bass power.
Straijer bangs on a can among other surfaces in the latter piece, Hurtado saws with his bow before Haslam's solo baritone exhales a lyrical song of intense and complex beauty.
The trio session with Greene and Ferrero took place the following day.
Haslam plays bass clarinet on Amigos Nuevos and Ferrero moves to kalimba and sings beside Haslam's long and breathy notes in Tranquilo.
Greene plucks the locomotive power on Early Morning Train, which is almost Ellingtonian in its sonic train depiction, with Haslam's baritone playing the Harry Carney role.
North in the Americas comes further than the deep south in the trio's version of the spiritual Wade in the Water.
This is Greene's history in particular and it is his visceral bow which grinds out the theme, with Ferrero's crashing notes and Haslam's transatlantic empathy in close engagement.
The threesome's raw and mutual solidarity binds together a memorable performance, as deep as the past.
As for the Ferrero/Haslam duo, Vidala y Vidala, essayed by an Englishman and an Argentinian in combined artistry and jazz comradeship, it explodes all the militarism and Thatcherism that ever came between these two faraway peoples.
Springtime it was in the south of the world where men had fought and killed each other in competing authoritarianisms two decades before.
And the music budded with peace, jazz and promise.
Chris Searle Morning Star 25 February 2013
http://www.morningstaronline.co.uk/news/content/view/full/129898
GEORGE HASLAM - September Spring: Haslam & Friends In Argentina (Slam 322; UK) Recorded in Buenos Aires in September of 2006 and featuring two different ensembles: George Haslam on bass clarinet, bari sax & tarogato with (1) Daniel Harari on tenor sax, Mono Hurtado on double bass & Horacio Straijer on drums and (2) George with Ruben Ferrero on piano, kalimba, melodica & percussion and Hill Greene on double-bass. British bari saxist and Slam label leader, George Haslam, has been collaborating with musicians from Argentina for more than a decade, with a half dozen discs on Slam. These two sessions were recorded on two days, September 6 & 7th of 2006. The only other player I know of here is downtown bass great Hill Greene, yet all of the other four musicians are equally fine. The first half of this disc features a quartet with two reeds, bass & drums. Opening with "Bajo Profundo", the stark contrabass, bass clarinet and tenor sax play some haunting, somber low-end sounds. Mr. Hurtado's bowed bass is especially solemn and well used on "Baile Con Las Pulgas" along with George contemplative bass clarinet. Bassist Mono sounds as if he is playing a cello at times with his rich, warm tone. Although all but one of these pieces was improvised in the studio, each piece a different strategy or plan. Horacio's percussion on "La Diana" provides a series of different textures while George plays somber tarogato (a large Eastern European clarinet) on top. Commencing with a duo of bari and tenor sax, both reedsmen start slowly and build in tempo and intensity to a joyous conclusion. The second session starts with some exquisite, eerie bass clarinet from George and Hill's deep, expressive acoustic bass. "Tranquilo" features some delicate kalimba, hushed bari sax and odd whispered vocal sounds. All of these pieces have an evocative yet restrained quality, often with Hill's deep, resonant bass at the center. Hill plays a rather hypnotic repeating bass line on "A Green Riff' while Ruben plays some dark, Latin-like piano with a great slow-burning bari solo from George to top things off. The trio does a touching version of the traditional song, "Wade in the Water", for stunning bowed bass, majestic piano and haunting tarogato. It is a stunning conclusion to a righteous, laid-back and sublime delight. - BLG Downtown Music Gallery
Haslam, a baritone and tarogato player, plays bass clarinet here for the first time improvising in charismatic fashion around folkish and more abstract themes on his own label with regular Argentinian collaborators. Selwyn Harris, Jazzwise, September 2007.
Jazz Review September 2007
September Spring was the product of Haslam’s two days of chilling out with musician friends in Buenos Aires after a hectic tour. He has played with Harari, Ferrero, Hurtado and Straijer whenever he visited Argentina since 1990, but worked with Greene for the first time in New York earlier in 2006.
Haslam’s bass clarinet makes its recording debut on "Bajo Profundo", which kicks off with a chord filled in by Hurtado’s floor-shuddering bowed bass. After a few phrases Hurtado puts aside the bow to engage in an agile duet. It’s an excellent foundation for the session. Haslam stresses that the tracks are presented in the order that they were recorded, and rightly considers this the best (he says, essential) way of presenting improvised music since what you play is influenced by what you have played earlier: the session should, he believes, develop as a whole, not as a programme of discrete tunes. The second track, with Straijer added, does indeed sound as if it developed organically from its predecessor, and the unfolding process continues when Harari joins them for the more agitated "Cumbre Coghlan", Haslam now on his accustomed baritone sax. The fourth track opens with a fine percussion introduction leading into a pizzicato bass solo – the highly dextrous Hurtado plays exceptionally well whenever he appears – followed by sumptuous lone baritone, then atmospheric tenor (4 x 1, see) topped off by a turbulent collective improvisation (right …1 x 4). "La Diana" features nice tarogato and nimble drumming, and "La Tere" wraps up this impressive, predominantly low-end session with a sax duet.
The other tracks feature the trio of Haslam, Hill and Greene. Haslam has the benefit of another fine bassist here, whilst Ferrero imbues the session with some local colour. He is, I guess, the guilty party playing an uncredited instrument which sounds like a melodica on "Early Morning Train" but is probably bandoneon. He redeems himself with a tasty piano playing on "A Green Riff", inspiring Haslam’s fiery baritone excursion. You’ll certainly need your sou’wester for "Wade In The Water" and "Vidalas" brings proceedings to an almost operatic close.
Barry Witherden
Da anni il baritonista inglese George Haslam gira per il mondo lasciando traccia dei suoi incontri con gli improvvisatori negli angoli più remoti del globo grazie alla sua Slam Records. Questa sua nuova produzione è la testimonianza di due session registrate a Buenos Aires: la prima insieme a tre musicisti locali e l'altra insieme al pianista e percussionista Ruben Ferrero e al noto contrabbassista afroamericano Hilliard Greene, che si trovava casualmente nella capitale argentina. Questa volta Haslam si fa ascoltare pure al clarinetto basso, strumento che usa da poco, e qua e là al tarogato, un incrocio fra sax soprano e clarinetto proveniente dalla musica tradizionale ungherese.
Il senso di libertà che Haslam trasmette è privo dei furori free o delle radicalità che da tempo alcuni suoi connazionali usano e proprio per questo risulta sincero, grazie alla duttilità e voglia di comunicazione con musicisti che provengono da altre tradizioni musicali. Ci sono le tipiche percussioni sudamericane, seppur riviste in chiave moderna e pure il jazz di marca più americana come su "A Green Riff", dove l'eterogeneo trio Ferrero/Haslam/Greene va a rivedere le radici comuni costituite dai libri di musica su cui hanno studiato.
La prima session si mostra più libera, piú legata all'estro del momento ed alla voglia di incontrarsi su terreni inconsueti, in cui si lascia spazio alle sorprese. Tutti i musicisti sono molto efficaci, e danno spessore a quanto accade in studio, specie il contrabbassista Manolo Hurtado, esperto nel tessere trame sia con la tecnica del pizzicato che con l'archetto. Il duo di sassofoni Harari/Haslam chiude la breve session: una conferma della vitalità e della bravura dei musicisti argentini e di come anche alle 'periferie jazzistiche' del mondo si incontrino musicisti aggiornatissimi.
La seconda seduta di registrazione si muove a tratti su coordinate più consuete, lasciando spazio a situazioni più intriganti quando il bravo pianista passa alla kalimba ed altre percussioni. Hilliard Greene, inutile confermarlo, è sempre il grande contrabbassista che conoscevamo e Haslam il solito catalizzatore di forze, abile nello sviluppare una trama il cui contenuto si rivela solo alla fine (passando per un traditional!).
Vittorio Lo Conte - All About Jazz Italia, October 2007.
