Moshkiae
Charlie Haden, Egberto Gismonti and Jan Garbarek Magico 1980
A wonderful album that is more about the touches and feel than anything else. I can not even call this "jazz" as it is an incredible journey into various ideas and themes that appear to have been rehearsed some, so all three could stay together, but thee whole thing is so well done, and Egberto does get to flow quite a bit, probably more than Jan or Charlie.
The combination of these three folks is nice, and really well thought out, if something like that can be said, and when Egberto does some bits of wailing vocals to accompany the piece, it adds a touch to it, that raises this way above what "jazz" is supposed to be, and then it is augmented really well by Jan and Charlie ... a real magic for a combination. Again, as is the case with a lot of Egberto's work, this is more about the music itself, than it is about jazz, and the nicest part of it? There is nothing here that is formulaic or could be defined as the average jazz band, that always has to have a drummer, and ... and ... and the music, quite often is more about each individual soloing than it is about the flight of the music at all.
And this, in my book, was one of the greatest things that the ECM label did for a long time, and it did so by being able to get some folks together that otherwise, you might not imagine or expect. And this album, might just be one of their best ever, and you know that is saying a lot when matched up against some fabulous albums all around by ECM.
"Bailarina" is a treat and it looks like the driving force is Egberto, but it's impossible to say that Jan Garbarek and Charlie Haden did not help color the piece so well. The nice thing, towards the end of this piece is Egberto letting Charlie take the lead, and he keeps his touches light on the guitar and allows Charlie to lead, and if anything, this album is about the three making room for each other, and help create one of the prettiest things ever.
"Magico" simply shows how much Jan Garbarek, is capable of getting out of the "jazz" mode that he started out with, which at times, you and I might think was a bit too much, and here, and in this album, he shows his ability to match the music as he has been doing in his previous albums that were close to this one, many that could be considered "experiments" and how does it fit with a jazz player. This is one of the things that rock music has not been able to do, as too much of it is ego-centric and format laden material that lacks the freedom for the players to make it better.
"Silence". Per the previous reviewer, this is a Charlie Haden piece, and I have to admit that I did not have any Charlie Haden albums prior to this one. With a soft piano and a nice lead by Jan Garbarek, I think this piece comes off well, and its softness, is without a doubt one of the special things that makes this album so nice. Charlie stays in the background and eventually does his part with the piano simply adding a few bare notes, and show hos much jazz needs to get off the format, and standard show by musicians. You can solo, as well, but never have to show off ... HERE MOM!!! ... I'm soloing. The feelings being extended are so brilliantly played that you fall into it really nice and easy. I may have to listen to some of the other versions of this on Charlie Haden's albums, but, in many ways, I find that this one is plenty enough for my ears. A classic, if you don't mind my saying so.
"Spor" A guitar led by Egberto Gismonti seems to carry this piece, and augmented by Jan and in the background is Charlie, playing with a soft touch that makes this a very different piece in the album, but no less neat in this album.
"Palhaço" is driven by Jan with Egberto on the piano and (again) Charlie is in the background, giving us a nice and quiet touch that makes this very pretty. The title is a bit strange, considering that it translates to "clown", and the music is anything but that, and it helps us, again, feel the touch that has made this album so spectacular for so long ... rarely have any jazz folks done something so pretty and unusual as this album has show us. It is really nice how the piano compliments the saxophone here, which is not always something that is heard on many jazz works, where the other players are not always adding to the soloing artist a whole lot ... as if it were a sin to interrupt the soloist. You don't have that here, and maybe the one things that makes this album fantastic is the fact that the players are here to make each other better and accentuate the value of the music itself ... it succeeds way more than you or I could ever imagine!
Side Note: A lot of the standard in upright bass, in the jazz circles, is to be up front, and be aggressive, and one of the things that you get here by Charlie Haden, is not aggressiveness, but just a smooth and quiet touch that really carries well ... it is very much "un'jazz" as the pieces are more about the feeling and the mood than they are about the abilities of the player to just plunk notes ... as much as I appreciate many of them, by comparison some are too loud and noisy though still excellent, in a lot of works. But Charlie Haden's touch, here, is simply outstanding, and you don't get that bar-jazz kind of touch. You just get the feel for it all, and in my book that is more important and better for the music itself.
A magnificent album though this is not the kind of thing that some would call "jazz" when they go looking for things to listen to, and this might not be enjoyed by the standard that you see in so many examples in jazz music.
