Ken Hatfield - Phoenix Rising (2002)

Tracklist

01. Phoenix Rising
02. Tableau du Souvenir
03. The Aleph
04. Meroe
05. Retroflexion
06. Yo Es
07. Iberia
08. For Jeanette
09. Combray
10. Riff for Brother Jack

Ken Hatfield - guitar
Hans Glawischnig - bass
Duduka da Fonseca - drums/percussion
Claudio Roditi - trumpet/flugelhorn
Dom Salvador - piano
Billy Drewes - tenor saxophone

The fourth release from this prodigiously talented guitarist and composer finds him dividing his time between straight-ahead jazz compositions and pieces written in various Brazilian styles. None is less than lovely, and several are astoundingly beautiful. Hatfield plays an unamplified classical guitar, which is unusual (though not unheard of) in jazz but more common in Brazilian music, and he makes it work equally well in both contexts, whether on the blues-funk of "Riff for Brother Jack" (dedicated to his former employer, organist Jack McDuff), on the complex and angular title track, or on the gently swinging bossa nova of "For Jeanette." The core personnel on this date are Hatfield, bassist Hans Glawischnig, and drummer Duduka da Fonseca, but they are joined on several tracks by a shifting trio of accompanying players that includes pianist Dom Salvador (at his best on the delicate ballad "Tableau du Souvenir"), tenor saxophonist Billy Drewes, and trumpet player Claudio Roditi. All play with both delicacy and energy, as befits the robust loveliness of Hatfield's compositions. All in all, this is an endlessly delightful album.

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