SOLOS EAST WEST
George Haslam, Lol Coxhill.
SLAMCD 308
Bar code 5 028386 030829
TRACKS:
George Haslam, solo baritone sax (tarogato track 3
Recorded Krivoy Rog, Ukraine. 21 May 1995
1 Krivoy Rog/It don’t mean a thing/Pepper vodka/I got it bad 13m 43s
2 Somewhere 2 51
3 Spacebo/Soflty as in a morning sunrise 9 29
4 Lulu’s back in town/Tea for two 9 39
Lol Coxhill, solo soprano sax.
Recorded Tom Allan Centre, London. 1990.
5 Incognitose 21m 42s
RUBBERNECK
Despite the credit, this CD features Haslam and Coxhill separately rather than as a duo. Indeed, Haslam was recorded in Ukraine in 1995, while Coxhill was in Stratford East in 1990. the Haslam set, recorded at the Krivoy Rog Jazz Festival, is intriguing. He begins with a free improvisation on baritone sax. A few minutes into it, he quotes a phrase from Ellington's "It Don't Mean A Thing" and this is warmly applauded by the audience. From that point on, the set becomes a mixture of improvisations and standards. So, we get another Ellington piece, "I Got It Bad", plus "Somewhere", "Softly As In A Morning Sunrise", "Lulu's Back In Town" and "Tea For Two", interspersed with improvisations. The blend works well; the standards are well integrated (not thrown in as crowd pleasers) through the dexterity of Haslam's improvisation. Haslam's tone is as commanding and assured as ever. Following this set, Lol Coxhill's long free improvisation on soprano sax comes as a total contrast. The two parts of the CD do not gel, and the only rationale for pairing them seems to be that alone neither would be enough to fill a CD, whereas together they do. Individually, very good, together they make an odd couple. JOHN EYLES
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