Konitz/Haden - Sweet and Lovely

Not long after discovering the music Lee Konitz, I picked up Alone Together (Blue Note) featuring Konitz alongside Charlie Haden and Brad Mehldau. It was placed on heavy rotation and quickly became one of my favourite albums and by the end of the year (1999) the follow up - Another Shade of Blue - also was getting plenty of airtime.
In the liner notes of Alone Together Konitz mentions that the gig was originally intended to be a sax/bass duo recording for King Records. A couple of years later I found the duo recording listed in an online discography but I was unable to track it down. Over the years it would pop into my mind and I would have a search, hoping it would eventually show up on eBay, and then forget about it again.

In December, while browsing Dusty Groove for Charlie Haden recordings, there it was - Lee Konitz & Charlie Haden Sweet and Lovely - the missing piece of the December 1996 recordings at the Jazz Bakery in Los Angeles. Although I placed my order immediately, someone bet me to it and it was out of stock. It came back in stock while I was somewhere over the Pacific Ocean, and by the time I found out, the elusive duo had sold out once again. The new year rolled around and the album appeared on eBay and this time around it didn't escape.

The first spin reminded me of catching up with old friends you haven't seen for many years and things just slot right back in place. That's not to say there weren't surprises - there were, and as I continue to listen, the album keeps delivering the goods. The sparseness of the sax and bass on the trio albums always appealed to me and it really comes to the fore in these seven duo performances. Sweet and Lovely has been getting regular airtime over the past month and I feel it's the kind of album that will keep on giving. I had been waiting a long time to hear this and it didn't disappoint. Konitz and Haden have added a little weight to the decision that if push came to shove, duos would be placed at the top of my favourite line-ups. Highly recommended for fans of Konitz, Haden, bass accompaniment, duos and melodic playing.

Charlie Haden

Haden @ Jazz Middelheim August 2009
photo by Guy Van de Poel

The web is alive with tributes to Charlie Haden and I felt it was necessary to add my two cents. I spent some time on Friday afternoon listening to some selections from the post-Ornette quartet "Old and New Dreams" and Etudes (trio with Geri Allen & Paul Motian), Memoirs (trio Paul Bley & Paul Motian). He has plenty of room to shine on Soapsuds, Soapsuds, a duo with Ornette Coleman.

Improvisers (on any instrument) can learn so much from his melodicism and economy. The later being a rare quality (we all tend to over-play) and is something I am becoming increasing interested in. The man could say a lot with a little and his music came from a deep place. One of my favourites.

I first heard Haden during my mid-late teens on Ornette Coleman’s The Shape Of Jazz To Come. At the time my ears were drawn to Ornette's playing and it wasn't until years later that I started coming to grips with the importance of Haden in this music. It’s an album that I’ll write about separately at a later date.

He was brought to my attention again a couple of years later on Lee Konitz’ Alone Together (Blue Note). This album got some serious airplay in 1999-2001. I was transcribing Lee’s solo on “What Is This Thing Called Love?” and my saxophone teacher challenged me, saying something along the lines of, “Why? What are you going to learn from that?” – I didn’t know what to say! Haden’s backing of Konitz (and Brad Mehldau) is superb – not a wasted note on the entire album. The same can be said for his solos to. I heard a Konitz/Haden duo set was recorded but I have never managed to track it down (I found a pic of the album cover somewhere online years ago). If anybody out there can direct me to it I’d be extremely grateful.

I only heard Haden in person once – a duo with Paul Bley at the Blue Note in NYC in 2009. I could only afford to sit at the bar, where they crammed us in like sardines. It was a pretty disappointing listening experience and put me off going to the Blue Note again (it was my first time there). I spent the evening squeezed in the corner unable to see the bandstand and having to put plenty of chatter around me. However, I had no complaints about the music.

Here are links to just a few of the many tributes: Nate Chinen at the New York Times, the Free Jazz Collective Blog, NPR Remembering Charlie Haden.