Reuben Hoch  Of Recent Time

It’s not often I look at a CD with a drummer as a leader but this is. Certainly on the first track you would think that the pianist is the leader, but with a lot of modern groups the leader is just a name.

This is a very together trio and it could be the True Stereo layout used for the recording with drums in the centre and piano on the left with the double bass on the right. As with a number of Ken Christenson productions it is recorded in a small church, this one is in Fort Lauderdale in Florida.

Back to the music that is not remixed you get just what the original recording produces with carefully placed microphones. Why not try listening well to one side or the other of maybe adjust your stereo to favour one side, whatever you do you will still have a truly together trio.

My own idea is that the drummer provides the glue that links everyone together and he does not dominate any part of proceedings until track five an Ornette Coleman composition Turnaround that you really hear him but even then another member the bassist Ed Schuller has a vital role.

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Even though I have listened to and loved jazz for fifty years the only name in this trio I can say I have heard of is the pianist Don Friedman.

Time and Timing are almost everything to musicians, totally meshed together, the true album title is Of Recent Time  by Reuben Hoch and Time, until you have heard the whole album a couple of times this may sound presumptuous but it isn’t. Even on the final track the very last note is not from the drums but from the bass.

As an antidote I recently heard a performance by a trio of musicians led by a pianist it was – thankfully free – they played the notes, the tunes were well known but sad to say there was nothing there. Two friends of mine left at the interval saying just two words Lounge Jazz. I knew what they meant, if you were eating your dinner it would be perfectly acceptable background music. Totally unlike the performance by Reuben Hoch and Time  Of Recent Time that I recommend highly.

If you are unsure then why not try the Pat Metheny track Question and Answer at

http://www.thenaimlabel.co.uk/mp3/cd088_tr2.mp3 Here you hear Hock first followed by Friedman and Schuller.

Charlie Haden & Chris Anderson 

This CD was recorded almost ten years ago at the Cami Hall, in New York the title is None but the Lonely Heart.

Charlie Haden is perhaps the most famous name on the Naim label. Hear him here in a duo format, Charlie on Bass and a new name to me Chris Anderson on Piano. On looking at the track listings of the nine tracks seven are standards so on first listen perhaps the ones to listen to closely are tracks four Nobody’s Heart and track eight CC Blues.

I was totally ignorant of the impediments suffered by Chris Anderson until I read the liner notes. He is blind – but so are a lot of great musicians especially pianists – but he also suffers from a brittle bone condition and that makes every note a potential problem. However I am sure he would wish you only listen to the music and not say ‘isn’t it good because …’

I am not sure if knowing a tune makes listening easier or harder, we all have favourite interpretations and any new rendition bears comparison, only several plays can say that ‘x’ is better than ‘y’. Even then the comparison may not be fair as it may be in a totally different setting or context.

So perhaps my first judgement should be made on the two tracks mentioned, as soon as I heard Nobody’s Heart I knew I knew it so that made things difficult. So that only leaves CC Blues and just to confound me this starts with a long Haden bass solo. The best laid plans …

So now just to listen and soak in two excellent musicians and enjoy what they offer. Only It Never Entered My Mind is a solo track and that by Chris Anderson.

Nine tracks and all but 73minutes of great music by two superb musicians. I do enjoy my occasional forays into telling you about my passion for music in a jazz vein.

Naim CD’s are £12.99 each and can be purchased from their online store. The link below takes you to their Jazz artists. Then click on either Chris Anderson or Reuben

Hock. If you click on Chris Anderson and then on None But The Lonely Heart and then listen you can hear a sample of Good Morning Heartache.