Charlie Haden Quartet West; Jacky Terrasson Trio
Charlie Haden Quartet West; Jacky Terrasson Trio (Alex Theatre, Glendale; 1, 250 seats; $ 29.50 top) Presented by Playboy Jazz Festival. Bands: (Quartet West) Haden, Ernie Watts, Alan Broadbent, Larance Marable, string ensemble; (JTT) Terrasson, Ugonna Okegwoc, Al Jackson. Reviewed Nov. 17, 1996. Charlie Haden's Quartet West had the distinct luxuries Sunday of a 22-piece string section on board and an ample-sized Alex Theatre stage on which to mount it. And far from delivering a flood of Kostelanetz-flavored syrup, the strings were a genuine, even emotional enhancement a jewel in the checkered track record of jazz-plus-strings. The distinctly early-'50s, Hollywood-haunted ambiance could not conceal the intelligence and musicality behind the string charts of Alan Broadbent, the Quartet West pianist who doubled as conductor in front of the keyboard. These were warm yet lean arrangements without an ounce of manipulative sentiment, with underlying angst and serenity that evoked classicists Mahler and Honegger. Even though Haden has been pursuing this idea for several years on albums, it still must come as a weird surprise to those who know him as the fire-breathing bassist for Ornette Coleman and the sometime leader of the agitprop Liberation Music Orchestra. Not only that, saxman Ernie Watts, cast in the role of romantic lead, also has been known mainly for flame-throwing. Yet the strings brought out a staggeringly beautiful lyric streak in Watts, who weaved luxuriously through the texture like a tenor Benny Carter, occasionally marked with a perfectly placed outside flurry or expressive punctuation mark. Haden could carry the melodies simply, elegantly, without frills from his usual high perch in back. When left to its own devices sans strings, the Quartet West broiled on a medium-hot flame, with drummer Larance Marable expertly laying down a calypso groove on one number and dropping exquisite little bombs in his colleagues' laps elsewhere. Jacky Terrasson and his now-telepathic trio offered more examples of how delightfully different he is from other copycat pianists his age. He uses dynamics and space more cunningly than ever, and still gets great mileage out of obsessive repetitions. Richard S. Ginell
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