as he is, and his loose. adventuresome way of playing and great spontaneity influenced my approach. He made me realise I needed to practise my instrument more, and he encouraged me to play longer solos. Jimmy Guiffre looked at a Trio as if it were a mobile,
showing a different face of the trio all I
the time, and Sonny’s groups were like that too. They always had lots of facets to them.’
Prior to that early 60s association with Rollins, Hall had worked in
saxophonist Guiffre’s innovative trio I
with trombonist Bob Brookmeyer, an experience which is still reflected in his abiding liking for duos and trios. Guiffre‘s idea, he explains, ‘was to have three linear instruments improvise collectively. He believed that it didn’t make any difference whether or not the group had bass or drums. He said the players should be able to keep time themselves. It was damn hard, yet it was one of the most enlarging experiences I have ever had.’
Hall has never allowed himself to become stuck in a stylistic rut, nor to
simply work through licks which did a good job for him in the past. The measured freedom he finds in small groups is evident in his duos with bass master Ron Carter, or in the trio 3 with French pianist Michel Petrucciani and saxophonist Wayne Shorter (both, by coincidence, playing separately at the Glasgow Jazz Festival this year) on the former's Power of Three session for Blue Note.
‘I never wanted to get stuck in a particular era or way of playing,‘ he i acknowledges. ‘I like to stay open to things, partly because of my background, which is fairly wide, and partly because over the years I‘ve been around some marvellous players who, as they got older. kind of got rigid, and that always seemed a shame to me.‘
Nothing could be less rigid than Hall’s sinuous, flowing guitar lines. chock full of unexpected melodic and harmony nuances, surprising twists that flash past almost 5 unnoticed, simply because they seem ! so right, as though nothing else could 1 possibly have been played at that
Jim Hall: the voice at rebellious youth?
moment. The miracle which Hall routinely performs is to make everything he plays sound simultaneously freshly spontaneous and completely thought out. Don't. however, expect anything too showy; Hall‘s artistry is nothing if not subtle.
‘Clarity is the thing I am after. I
want a picture in my mind of the way i
a solo looks when I am playing it. That way I can keep it from becoming boring. I get bored very easily, and I think that is one ofthc things which helps me to avoid cliches.
‘The instrument keeps me humble, but I feelgood about my playing. I‘m having fun, and I keep younger guys around me to keep me stretched out. ’ I like to try new things, and I have good feelings about music because the performance I am most interested in is always the one lam about to give.‘
The Jim Hall Quartet play a! the Queen ’5 Hall in Edinburgh on Friday 31.
PREVIEW MUSIC
V LISTEN
I FACTORY RECORDS. unused to working with Scottish acts, must be impressed by the shrewdness shown by the canny Wendys. Given a wad oi dosh to arrange a launch party tor their new album. ‘Gobbledygook' (see review). the sort ot shindig generally done in the tackiest oi nightspots. they decided to hold it in one at their flats instead.
I HAIROARE CORNER: Amongst the current crop (geddit?) ot lads and Iasses on the Scottish pop lront rumoured to be sporting the much-ridiculed Paul Gascoine/George Michael/Neil Tennant ‘stormtrooper’ haircut are Ricky Ross. Annie Lennox. James Grant. Sidney Oevine, Shirley Out Ol Goodbye Mr Mackenzie (minus the sideboards), The Chimes' Mike Peden and the toll line-up otThe Naturals. All oi whom are old enough to know better. I PLANS ARE AFOOT to gather the ever-expanding plethora at Edinburgh- based dance groups under one root, the anticipated date being 27 July inthe Assembly Rooms. So tar, Botany 5. Zulu Syndicate, The Orange Grove. Sugar Bullet and TKO seem almost certain to play it. buta thorough dredge ot the city would also turn up Yo Yo Honey. Fini Tribe and the only hit act the scene has produced so tar. The Chimes, who might well be persuaded to join in.
I WE WERE SAODENEO to hear ot the death otWill Sinnott at The Shamen, who drowned last week in the Canary Islands where he had been shooting a video tor the band's next single. Sinnott's introduction to the group coincided with their shitt from 60s psychedelic pop to a more muscular dance-influenced sound which provided the impetus torthem to move out from indie obscurityto become central figures in the growing rave culture. His death comes at a time when The Shamen were on the verge of mainstream success. Our condolences go out to
everyone who knew Will or worked with him. J
The List 31 Mayu—vll3'June 199131