Now Is The Hour (CD)

With the exception of Charles Mingus, Charlie Haden is perhaps the most important post-bop jazz bassist. His work with Ornette Coleman's original groundbreaking quartet helped establish the blueprint for free jazz, a blueprint that Haden himself augmented with his own Liberation Music Orchestra. Haden is as well known for his collaborations and work as a sideman--with Hampton Hawes, Pat Metheny, and Michael Brecker, among others--as he is for his own projects, and has been an inspiration for a host of diverse bass players in various genres. He is also the father of Petra, Tanya, Rachel, and Josh Haden, four talented musicians in their own right.

• Category:  Music  »  Jazz  »  Bass
• Format: CD   Learn more about the CD format using Tower WIKI.
• Release Date: April 2, 1996
• Label: Verve (USA)
• UPC: 731452982728
• WAPI (Tower ID): 105800075
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• Tower.com Sales Rank: #20585 in Music (See Top 100 Music Bestsellers)
• #1239 in Jazz (See Top 100 Jazz Bestsellers)
• #27 in Bass (See Top 100 Bass Bestsellers)

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Rolling Stone (5/16/96, p.66) - 3 Stars (out of 5) - "...a nostalgic, subtly swinging collage of old-fashioned melodies and modern arrangements that plays like the soundtrack to an imaginary 1940s movie..."
Entertainment Weekly (4/12/96, p.69) - "...The quartet favors twilit reflectiveness over jazz fireworks but finds balance with bebop sparks on themes by Charlie Parker and Lee Konitz." - Rating: A-
Down Beat (6/96, p.44) - 3.5 Stars (out of 5) - "...evokes the Hollywood of the 1940s, poised between celluloid sentimentality and hipster cool....the album has the overall effect of an elegy for a bygone era....Haden's bass, with its huge, lumbering tone and vocalized phrasing...carries most of the emotional weight..."
JazzTimes (8/96, p.89) - "...Quartet West celebrates its 10th anniversary together in romantic fashion....Gorgeous melody....One of the rewards of [Quartet West's] longevity is that their level of communication borders on the clairvoyant..."
New York Times (Publisher) (4/14/96, Sec.2, p.30) - "...Haden's West Coast quartet has refined a dreamy esthetic that weaves echoes of film-noir soundtracks, be-bop and vintage torch songs into an idealized evocation of 1940's America....a flowing jazz suite..."

Charlie Haden Quartet West: Charlie Haden (bass); Alan Broadbent (conductor, piano); Ernie Watts (tenor saxophone); Larance Marable (drums).

Additional personnel: Thierry Cade, Charles Canier, Nathalie Carlucci, Daniel Dato, Thierry Huchin, Claire Lisiecki, Jocelyne Maubre, Yves Melon, Lysiane Metry-Travail, Alain Persiaux, Jean-Claude Tcheurekdjian, Christian Tetard, Frederic Visconte, Laurence Dupuis, Sandrine Naudy (violin); Olivier Kaspar, Jacques Borsarello, Christian Dufour, Olivier Grimoin (viola); Cyrille Lacrouts, Jean-Philippe Audin, Philippe Cherond, Herve Derrien, Philippe Feret, Philippe Nadal (cello); Philippe Noharet, Thierry Barbe (acoustic bass).

Recorded at Studios Guillaume Tell, Suresnes-Paris, France from July 18-20, 1995. Includes liner notes by Luis Bunuel

NOW IS THE HOUR was nominated for a 1997 Grammy Award for Best Jazz Instrumental Performance, Individual Or Group. The title track was nominated for a 1997 Grammy for Best Jazz Instrumental Solo.

Chralie Haden's Quartet West had been an active ensemble for a decade by the time of this release. As with the group's other works, NOW IS THE HOUR draws from a tradition in existence before Haden first burst on the scene with Ornette Coleman's groundbreaking quartet in the late '50s. The ensemble is joined by a string orchestra for half of the tracks, giving the music a lush and romantic sound. For "The Left Hand of God," Haden delivers the melody solo over a bed of strings, before the piano enters at the midway point. In fact, special mention should be made of the remarkable Alan Broadbent. The quartet's pianist since the outset, Broadbent shows his versatility by arranging and conducting the strings on this effort. Ernie Watt's tenor saxophone is a rich pleasure deserving much wider recognition. The set includes four originals and some fine choices in outside material, including tunes by Bud Powell, Lee Konitz, Charlie Parker, Cole Porter, and Lennie Tristano.

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