Jim HALL & Ron CARTER Duo – Alone Together 1972

Jim HALL & Ron CARTER Duo – Alone Together 1972
Recorded live at the Playboy Club, New York, New York on August 4, 1972
1991 Issue.

Jazz

ALONE TOGETHER is one of the great duet albums in instrumental jazz. Guitarist Jim Hall and bassist Ron Carter are renowned as both studio musicians and members of stellar outfits (Hall played with Jimmy Giuffre and Art Farmer; Carter with Miles Davis’s second great quintet). In the intimate, chamber-jazz atmosphere of these live dates, however, the true sensitivity and flexibility of both artists can be heard. Carter and Hall are sophisticated, harmonically advanced players. They value balance and space as much as technical showmanship, and both play with a cool tone and rhythmically intricate flair that scintillates as it soothes and seduces.

The majority of the program consists of standards (“Autumn Leaves” and “Prelude to a Kiss),” along with other covers (Sonny Rollins’s “St. Thomas”). Hall contributes an original, the smoky “Whose Blues,” as does Carter, with the sly bop flourishes on “Receipt, Please.” Throughout, the music is playful, highly lyrical, energetic, and beautiful, while representing an almost uncanny telepathy between the two performers. Aside from faint crowd noise from the club audience, this album is perfection.
**
This is the first of the duo albums of Jim Hall and Ron Carter, and it captures the discovery and delight the two found in their early collaboration. Together, these giants of their instruments comprise a dream string section. Anticipating one another, often seeming to think with one mind, they produce chamber music of the highest order. Exploring the possibilities in six standard songs (Sonny Rollins’s “St. Thomas” had long since become a standard) and two originals, Carter and Hall employ a great sense of fun in the serious business of music making. Among the highlights: a romp through “St. Thomas,” their moving treatment of Duke Ellington’s “Prelude to a Kiss,” and Hall’s earthy “Whose Blues.”
**
Giants of modern jazz, Jim Hall and Ron Carter’s duo. This CD gives you an idea of how to play the guitar for rythm section and how to play the bass for lead section. Sounds of the two string instruments melt together and create a soft and beautiful harmony. Excellent
**
Jim Hall– Guitar
Ron Carter– Bass
**
01. St. Thomas (Sonny Rollins)  4:44
02. Alone Together(Arthur Schwartz, Howard Dietz)  5:51
03. Receipt, Please” (Ron Carter)  4:59
04. I’ll Remember April (Gene de Paul, Patricia Johnston, Don Raye)  6:50
05. Softly, As in a Morning Sunrise (Sigmund Romberg, Oscar Hammerstein II)  2:52
06. Whose Blues? (Jim Hall)  5:54
07. Prelude to a Kiss (Duke Ellington, Irving Gordon, Irving Mills)  5:50
08. Autumn Leaves (Joseph Kosma, Johnny Mercer, Jacques Prévert)  6:54
**

Houston PERSON With Ron CARTER – Just Between Friends 2005

Houston PERSON With Ron CARTER – Just Between Friends 2005

Jazz

Just Between Friends, bassist Ron Carter and tenor saxophonist Houston Person’s first studio duo encounter since Dialogues in 2002, boasts a spot-on album title. A palpable sense of intimacy, ease and near-telepathic intuition practically radiates from the disc.

A comfort zone is established by way of standards, tunes like “Lover Man,” “Alone Together” and “You’ve Changed,” that both men may have played an infinite number of times throughout their careers. But in the hands of two great instrumentalists, a perfectly constructed song, no matter its age, holds the same appeal as a favored meal. Taking their time, savoring sturdy melodies and ingenious changes, allowing the sheer beauty of their respective tones to score major points, letting offhand virtuosity speak for itself, this duo practically luxuriates in generous music-making.

A swing-to-bop stylist now in the golden age of his artistic maturity, Person couldn’t sound more relaxed, more willing to impart emotion through the warmth of his sound and the judicious construction of a perfectly devised phrase. Carter, for his part, carries the load of rhythm, harmony and unaccompanied soloist with a grace that will only surprise those that haven’t thrilled to the best of his five-decades-long work.

Old-school Carter fans will also rejoice at the unadorned richness of his recorded tone. Engineer Rudy Van Gelder has expertly captured the oaken depth of Carter’s instrument, set free from the oppressive amplification that can make this masterful player sound as if he’s attacking a set of uniformly tuned rubber bands.
By Steve Futterman.
**
In the 1990s, Houston Person kept the soulful thick-toned tenor tradition of Gene Ammons alive, particularly in his work with organists. After learning piano as a youth, Person switched to tenor. While stationed in Germany with the Army, he played in groups that also included Eddie Harris, Lanny Morgan, Leo Wright, and Cedar Walton. Person picked up valuable experience as a member of Johnny Hammond’s group (1963-1966) and has been a bandleader ever since, often working with singer Etta Jones. A duo recording with Ran Blake was a nice change of pace, but most of Houston Person’s playing has been done in blues-oriented organ groups. He has recorded a consistently excellent series of albums for Muse, eventually switching to HighNote Records for 2006’s You Taught My Heart to Sing, 2007’s Thinking of You, and 2008’s Just Between Friends, which featured bassist Ron Carter.
By Scott Yanow. AMG.
**
HOUSTON PERSON- Tenor Sax
RON CARTER- Bass
**
01. How Deep Is The Ocean (I.Berlin) 5:04
02. You’ve Changed (Carey-Fisher) 5:09
03. Blueberry Hill (Lewis-Rose-Stock) 5:51
04. Darn That Dream (De Lange-Van Heusen) 6:23
05. Meditation (Jobim-Gimbel-Mendonca) 5:23
06. Lover Man (Oh Where Can You Be?) (Davis-Ramirez-Sherman) 5:20
07. Lover Come Back To Me (Romberg-Hammerstein) 4:23
08. Polka Dots And Moonbeams 4:12
09. Always (I.Berlin) 5:58
10. Alone Together (Dietz-Schwartz) 5:43
**