01 December 2009
Downbeat
Robert L Doerschuk


The beauty of When The Heart Dances derives from the synchronicity of temperaments achieved by Laurence Hobgood and Charlie Haden. In fact, it's impossible to imagine any bassist better suited than Haden to reflect Hobgood's patience, economy and profundity. Both artists take their time moving through the tunes, as if contemplating masterworks at a gallery exhibition. This approach focuses the listener on the material sometimes more than the performance - which makes these performances masterpieces in and of themselves.
This becomes clear seconds into the first track, an examination of ‘Que Sera Sera' whose understatement makes this no less of a spectacular achievement. Over spare half-notes from the bass, Hobgood's piano is hushed and reflective, his solo unfolding a little mournfully. When Haden takes his chorus, he moves unhurriedly, his emphasis on gorgeous tone and eloquent invention. In the background, Hobgood plays with the same sparseness Haden had shown in support, voicing with no more complexity than a suspension or small knot of notes. Never has this song been taken this far from its standard perception, treated so reverently or transformed into such a vehicle for emotional expression.
The other coves receive equally thoughtful treatment. On ‘Stairway To The Stars', behind Kurt Elling's nuanced vocal, Hobgood, the singer's regular accompanist, eases from straightforward harmonies, often in third inversion, into gentle clusters, tremolos, bitonal superimpositions or raindrop like sprinkle, all of it leading to a breathtaking finale with Elling holding the last note in a feathery falsetto.
The original compositions are just as satisfying. A playful tumble of notes sets the feel on the waltz-time title tune; it's the record's most joyous cut, animated by a rare quick keyboard run - yet even her there's a breath of melancholy, perhaps a cautionary reminder that happiness is never as easy as it seems.
In ‘Sanctuary' one of two pieces played on piano alone, Hobgood shows the same traits he displays with Haden, mainly his ability to slip from simplicity into more involved passages and back again, pulling from blues, classical and pastoral new age elements, deepening rather than diluting his expression but with the additional freedom of going in and out of tempo as the moment dictates.