04 February 2008
Jazzwise
Stuart Nicholson


Formed in 1985, Charlie Haden's Quartet West made six studio albums for Universal plus two live albums that Naim are now making available to the general public for the first time. Originally released as promos exclusively for Naim customers, The Private Collection, comprising Haden's 50th birthday concert in 1987 and a concert at Webster University, St Louis from the following year, were too good to keep under wraps. Aside from Haden's own exemplary accompaniment, the stars if Quartet West are the hugely underrated Alan Broadbent and Ernie Watts, veterans of the Woody Herman Herd and Buddy Rich Band respectively. Both have an architectonic approach to improvising - from small beginnings they seem capable of building gleaming edifices (Passport, Bay City and Nardis on Private Collection) that give this group a contemporary feel in these live performances that was consciously avoided in the studio where, as the writer Francis Davis has pointed out: ‘It's as though Haden were imagining [Charlie] Parker and [Phillip] Marlowe prowling the Hollywood streets with him'.