Keith Jarrett and Charlie Haden, Last Dance, ECM ***1/2
More from the Jasmine session recorded at Keith Jarrett’s home studio in 2007. Two of the tracks, ‘Where Can I Go Without You’ and ‘Goodbye’, are alternate takes, the alternate ‘Goodbye’, the old Benny Goodman theme by Gordon Jenkins easily stealing the whole show. These are slow songs, the pair seem to have all the time in the world, ‘’Round Midnight’, with a very deceptive introduction, that is very inviting, could have been even slower and comes across as optimistic. ‘Dance of the Infidels’ puts Haden through his paces, the tune taken at a brisk lick but ‘It Might As Well Be Spring’, like ‘Goodbye’, is in another league in terms of interpretation, the pair completely as one. Last Dance is not about pain and suffering, and there’s something additional, approaching fraternal joy, in the playing of Jarrett and Haden here in great abundance, that’s so very striking.
Released on Monday 16 June
Keith Jarrett and Charlie Haden, above photo Reto Caduff/ECM
