Haden on Bass and Barron on Piano: A Match Made in Heaven
Over the years I've attended a number of concerts at Manhattan's Iridium jazz club. (I think it may have since closed because of the pandemic.) This subterranean club's cold, industrial decor and sometimes shrill sound system are hardly ideal for a live recording. Yet the music made there by Charlie Haden on bass and Kenny Barron on piano is absolutely sublime, and the credit goes to these two highly focused jazz masters and the apparent, extra measure of relative quiet maintained by the audience. I cannot praise the joint playing on this album enough. Barron is a creative genius on the keys. His improvisational skill is jaw-droppingly precise and powerful. And Haden's equally inventive bass playing both complements the piano while beautifully cultivating its own strong musical profile. To put it succinctly: Barron and Haden are a match made in heaven in, of all places, Iridium. For this extraordinary live duet recording, I'd change the credited venue name from "Iridium" to "Elysium." Because that's what it sounds like: matchless bliss from two of the best jazz musicians alive.
