11 August 2009
Creative Loafing
Penny Tannenbaum

The strange, stately beauties of pianist/composer Laurence Hobgood's new Naim Jazz release, When the Heart Dances (US release date: Aug. 11, 2009), begin on the opening track with his funereal transformation of "Que Sera, Sera," the Jay Livingston tune that Doris Day waltzed to the top of the pop charts in 1956. We lose the carefree tang of Ray Evans' lyric as Hobgood and the great bassist Charlie Haden lift its fatality into saddened serenity, with a farewell of aching poignancy.

A native of Salisbury, NC, Hobgood is best known for his collaborations with singer Kurt Elling, who drops in on the Hobgood/Haden duo for three songs. Of these, only "Stairway to the Stars" will be familiar - and, especially in its soaring conclusion, worthy of comparison with the great Johnny Hartman version. Duke Ellington's seldom-heard "Daydream" fits in equally well with the meditative profundity of this CD, but it is overshadowed by the Haden composition, "First Song," graced by an opening lyric that blooms with quiet cosmic power:

When the stars were strung -
It was the first song that was sung.
It lightened up a world
Made for a boy and a girl
When love was new as morning dew.

That's Abbey Lincoln's lyric, uncredited here. It's safe to predict that you'll hear more versions of this song, properly credited, after other singers hear this one. Haden's full-strength instrumental lyricism shines everywhere, particularly brightly on "Que Sera," "First Song," and "Why Did I Choose You?" - all compelling remedies for listeners who abominate bass solos. Only for a moment or two in "Chickoree," jointly composed by Haden and Hobgood, does the bassist's solo sink into the slough of self-indulgence that enmeshes most improvs on the supersized fiddle. But wait, he's setting us up for a welcome speed-up at the end, sprinkled with hints of the "Tennessee Waltz" from the keyboard.

Interspersed with the vocals and six duo tracks are two Hobgood solos. If pressed to apply a label to Hobgood's highly original stylings, I'd call "Sanctuary" a gospel blues that evokes Keith Jarrett when he settles into that groove, while "Leatherwood" is more in the vein of Chick Corea's acoustic work. Hobgood's highly personal idea of dancing is perhaps clearest in his title tune, restoring the waltz tempo he dropped from the preceding "Que Sera" and, together with a gently swinging Haden, conjuring up the legendary interplay between Bill Evans and Scott LaFaro.

"Chickoree" has that same "When the Heart Dances" rightness when Hobgood steps on the accelerator, but it's the closing offering, Don Grolnick's "The Cost of Living," that comes closest to the mesmerizing majesty of "Que Sera." It's a dark passionate tango, so deeply intense in its intimacy that one can easily imagine two dancers in the middle of the floor, frozen in mutual attraction and fascination, as the music plays on.
The actual recording location, the Roy O. Disney Music Hall in Valencia, has already received a shower of accolades from critics and concertgoers. Hosting the instrumentalists under chaste studio conditions, the Disney proves to be a wondrous silent contributor to this dance.