From 2009 onward, producer-composer Brian Camelio traveled with guitarist Jim Hall on tour to lend assistance as Jim recovered from back surgery. During this performance period, Jim fronted a trio and played some duets. Fortunately, Brian recorded as much as he could and stashed away the tapes. Recently, Brian was asked by Jim's widow, Jane Hall, to assemble an album of the recorded material in celebration of what would have been his 92nd birthday on December 4, 2022. [Photo above of Jim Hall courtesy of Brian Camelio]
So Brian went through his archives and stumbled upon tracks recorded in May and June of 2012. The result is Uniquities, 12 previously unreleased live tracks issued in March in two separate volumes. Jim was joined by bassist Scott Colley and drummer Joey Baron. The sound is fantastic, and Jim's playing is first-rate, thanks to the recording process used and the fine playing by Scott and Joey. [Photo above of Brian Camelio, courtesy of Twitter]
"Uniquities" is a word invented by Jane to describe how Jim would take musical ideas on songs and constantly reinvent them, similar to Bill Evans's revisiting of specific standards and Monet’s Water Lilies series. One shot isn't enough when it comes to artistically interpreting beauty's nuances.
The songs on Vol. 1 are Without A Song, All The Things You Are, Careful (Jim Hall), Chelsea Bridge, Is What It Is (Scott Colley), Uniquities Part 1 (Hall, Joey Baron and Colley) and St. Thomas (Sonny Rollins).
The songs on Vol. 2 are Without A Song, Body and Soul, Big Blues (Hall), In a Sentimental Mood, Uniquities Part 2 and St. Thomas.
This album is superb, deeply inventive and introspective, and an exceptional document, since no official post-2010 small-group recordings by Jim have surfaced until now. A special thanks to Brian, the founder of ArtistShare, the first online crowdfunding website, and the producer of seven other albums by Jim. Brian won a Grammy as producer of Maria Schneider's Data Lords (2020).
And a special thanks to Jane Hall, whom you can learn more about from my 2019 post here. [Photo above of Jim and Jane Hall with Django, courtesy of Jane Hall]
JazzWax tracks: You'll find Jim Hall's Uniquities (Vols. 1 and 2) at ArtistShare here.
Additional Jim Hall albums on ArtistShare can be found here.
JazzWax tracks: Here's All the Things You Are...