Closeness

About

<i>Closeness</i> from 1976, much like <i>The Golden Number</i> the following year, featured bassist and composer Charlie Haden in a series of duets with legendary collaborators, playing all Haden originals. It was the first duo release of many to fill the Haden discography—his partners over the span of his career included Jim Hall, Pat Metheny, Keith Jarrett, Hank Jones, Kenny Barron, Denny Zeitlin, and more. “Ellen David,” with Keith Jarrett, calls to mind the chemistry that Haden established in the pianist’s American Quartet, and prefigures the duo albums <i>Last Dance</i> and <i>Jasmine</i> by decades. “O.C.” stands for Ornette Coleman, heard here on alto saxophone (on <i>The Golden Number</i> he plays trumpet), harnessing the springy energy of <i>The Shape of Jazz to Come</i> from nearly 20 years before. To hear the melodic swing conception of Haden and Coleman, at full tilt and <i>without</i> a rhythm section, is to understand and appreciate it anew. Alice Coltrane plays harp on “For Turiya,” if you can imagine a sound so heavenly, from a partnership so deeply felt— something rekindled in 2004 when Haden appeared on the final Alice Coltrane album <i>Translinear Light</i>. Paul Motian, another Jarrett quartet member, joins Haden to close with the percussion-heavy “For a Free Portugal,” a not-so-veiled dig at the Salazar dictatorship. It begins with a live recording of Haden shouting out the Mozambican freedom movement to a Portuguese audience, a move that briefly landed him in detention. Political engagement remained important to Haden—he debuted in 1970 at the helm of the Liberation Music Orchestra, a model that has remained potent to this day. But duos held a special place as well: New efforts with Coleman (<i>Soapsuds, Soapsuds</i>), pianist Hampton Hawes (<i>As Long as There’s Music</i>), and guitarist Christian Escoudé (<i>Gitane</i>) would soon follow.

via Apple Music

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