Veteran Scandinavian label Storyville Records continues its release of vintage concert recordings with this delightful outing of the late Jim Hall back in April, 1998 in Copanhagen’s Holbaek Jazzklub. The iconic stringmaster is with a classy core team including a young Chris Potter on tenor sax, bassist Thomas Ovesen and regular drummer Terry Clarke, which is supplemated by the Zapolski String Quartet for a handful of pieces.
Hall at this time had just recorded an album By Arrangement, which had included strings, so this might be a continuation of that idea. The strings sound Bartokian with some dark moods for Hall on “Thesis” while the fun read of Jimi Hendrix’s “Purple Haze” has hints of the Kronos Quartet with Middle Eastern harmonics mixed with dots, dashes and slashes. Most elliptical is the “Quartet + 4” with emotive stories told by Hall. The regular team gorgeously swings on the subtle “Stella By Starlight” and Potter sounding rich and breathy with Ovesen on a delicate “Chelsea Bridge”. Hall himself is nifty and cool on “Mr. Blues” and creates a calm flow with Potter on a dainty “In A Sentimental Mood”. Lyrical joys to imbibe.