DOUG HALL: Jihi

Doug Hall

Jihi

© 2003 Heart Music (000206002525)

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Pianist Doug Hall gives a lush, fluid, and profoundly detailed approach to his beautiful and subtle dynamic compositions. He is gentle yet deliberate on fairly complex harmonic schemes. Uncanny lyricism and grace.

notes

Born into a musical family in Dallas, Texas, Doug Hall began studying piano at age six and made his orchestral debut performing the Mozart A-Major K 414 Piano Concerto with the Dallas Symphony Orchestra at age nine. At the age of twelve, he became interested in jazz, and for the next several years competed in classical piano competitions and performed with orchestras, including another performance with the Dallas Symphony at age fifteen, and at the same time writing compositions for his high-school jazz ensemble. After graduating early, he was awarded a Memorial Composition Scholarship from North Texas State University and entered college at age sixteen. Doug Hall has played with Dave Liebman, James Moody, Victor Wooten, Joe Farrell, Lee Konitz, Chet Baker and Bill Waltrous. He has recorded on Bob Beldon Ensemble’s “Music of Sting” for Blue Note, while his debut CD “Three Wishes” featuring Marc Johnson (bass) and Bruce Hall (drums) received positive feedback and critical acclaim.

While citing Bill Evans, Herbie Hancock, Keith Jarrett, and McCoy Tyner as early influences, Doug has found his own sound and style. With the February 2002 release of “Jihi” Doug Hall charted in the Top 10 of the Yellowdog Jazz Report radio charts and is particularly respected in the Austin music community, having been referred to in the press as "Austin's most diverse keyboard virtuoso.”

Pianist Doug Hall gives a lush, fluid, and profoundly detailed approach to his beautiful and dynamic compositions. As conveyed through the brightness and exquisiteness of his notes, you sense inner joy channeling through him. Featuring some of New York cities finest John Hebert (Andrew Hill,Kenny Werner) on bass, Bruce Hall (Bob Belden) on drums and Adam Kolker (Ray Barretto Band) on saxophones, “Jihi” was recordedat The Studio in New York City and engineered by the talented Jim Anderson.

The compositions on Jihi range from ballads such as “Under the Rainbow” and “Be From You,” showcasing Doug's beautifully developed harmonies, to high energy and steady tension-driven themes such as “ Darkstream,” displaying a free-flowing urban feel while still swinging throughout. “ After the Fact” demonstrates Doug's ability to completely change tactility throughout the song while keeping it seamlessly together. This music is resplendent ensemble playing with sensitive yet commanding voices on each instrument.

Jihi (je-he` ) in Japanese Buddhist texts means compassion. Ji, meaning “to give happiness” and hi, “to remove suffering.” Removing suffering and giving joy in it's simplest terms is the spirit of Doug Hall's “Jihi.” The healing qualities of music itself are universal, and Doug Hall's ability to draw from this quality with a floret of harmonious melodies is sublime.

“Austin-based pianist Doug Hall's "Jihi" goes down like a good cup of coffee: With every sip, it simultaneously soothes the soul and excites the mind. This quartet's dense brew steams moderately; it never scalds or goes cold. Even when the caffeine kicks in to fuel the double-time sections of "Dark Stream" and "After The Fact," the music maintains its gentle, deliberate composure. With the exception of the pop-flavored "Side Trip," the eight original compositions on "Jihi" follow fairly complex harmonic schemes. This is advanced material, modern right down to the dregs but never bitter in its loftiness. Showing utter restraint in execution, the quartet lifts the listener into this higher realm, which proves to be quite a joyful place. Hall solos with extreme chops on the uptempo numbers. He explores the harmony exhaustively and extrapolates the changes whenever it suits him. His use of dynamics is effectively subtle; he doesn't need to pound the keys to catch your ear. On the ballad "Under The Rainbow," Hall drifts cloud-like from one reflection to the next, applying tastefully muted colors to each scene of his Oz-derived dream. Hall-sympathizer Adam Kolker obviously shares his bandleader's vision on "Jihi," named after a Japanese word for compassion. Kolker plays tenor sax, soprano sax and bass clarinet with strength and control; he provides the perfect voice for Hall's postmodern melodies and solos with refreshing fluidness. Bassist John Hebert and drummer Bruce Hall demonstrate both empathy and telepathy from start to end. You can safely say that there's no Foger's in Hall's cup-– this is the good stuff. **** (four stars)” -– Ed Enright, DownBeat Magazine

" Jihi can be taken as a good indication that Doug Hall may well be that state's next, if by no means its lone, star in the jazz world.” -– Drew Wheeler, CDNOW Senior Editor, Jazz

"Perhaps they could take some pointers from pianist Doug Hall whose upcoming release, Jihi (Heart Music) will be out next month. The unassuming Hall is one of Austin’s unheralded musical treasures. His brilliantly impressionistic, intensely probing, and sometimes even witty pianism is at the heart of this terrific session of all originals. Recorded in NYC with brother Bruce Hall on drums, ringer Adam Kolker (from Ray Barretto’s band) on sax and top-shelf engineer Jim Anderson at the controls, Jihi serves up an elegant, carefully crafted musical feast for the mind and senses. Hall is a delight to listen to. If only we didn’t have to wait several years between albums. -– Jay Trachtenberg, Austin Chronicle

“For his second album as a leader, pianist Doug Hall has chosen to construct a program around the concept of JiHi which, in Japanese, means to give happiness and to remove suffering. The development of this theme is the thrust of this album. Hall and his quartet take listeners through the process musically to reach the intended salubrious conscious state. Each Hall-penned song apparently is contrived to represent one more step in the procedure necessary to achieve this condition. The opener, "After the Fact," is a sprightly anticipation of what it is like when JiHi is reached. It features jagged thrusts by Adam Kolker's sax coming in on top of Hall's less-frantic piano, both of which are interrupted occasionally with sharp drum breaks by Bruce Hall. Track two, "Dark Stream," addresses the metaphysical part of the journey with a haunting melody. And so it goes until a blissful "Be From You," the last cut, when the trip is reached and happiness, or the absence of suffering, is achieved. This state of being is enshrined by the serenity of the playing, emphasized by the long, flowing lines coming from Kolker's sax, with a pensive bass interlude by John Hebert. The album is characterized not only by the inventiveness of the musical scheme, but by the interplay between the members of the quartet, which at times becomes so intense that it feels eerie. To get the full benefits of what the players are doing as well as the impact of the music, concentrated listening is required. It's also required to catch and grasp the subtle relationship that is being built among the participants. This is heady stuff and is recommended. -– Dave Nathan, All Music Guide

"These guys swing like hell. Musical ability is high on the list here. When our kids were nine we were still sucking their bits of Lego into our vacuum cleaner, while Hall was debuting with the Dallas Symphony at that age. Kolker's solos are considered, perfectly logical, and beautifully swinging extensions of a melody line. When Hall takes over, his runs are fluent and executed with a glorious touch and subsequent tone. I occasionally hear an extremely updated (dare we say it?), improved, although pianistically muted, postbop version, of some of the Red Garland sessions with Coltrane - with Kolker offering a less muscular take on Trane. It is very good Jazz, indeed!" -– Lawrence Brazier, Jazz Now

“On his second outing as leader, Austin-based pianist Doug Hall is surrounded by a group of like-minded musicians for a set of his originals based on the Japanese concepts ji ("compassion") and hi ("to give happiness and remove suffering".) Conceptual? Yes. Gimmicky and self-indulgent? No. Adam Kolker's tenor, especially on the modal, "After The Fact," is reminiscent of mid-to-late '60's Coltrane, only gentler. This understated but crisp style is articulated in the playing of Doug Hall and drummer Bruce Hall throughout and by bass clarinet on "Dark Stream," where Kolker produces sounds that are slightly dissonant but not brash. On the title track, John Herbert's bass intro produces tones that evoke the doshpuluur (a two-stringed lute used in traditional Tuvan music from Mongolia). Bruce Hall's breezy drum solo on "Once Around The Block," a brighter up-tempo bop, is unassuming in the same way. The song underscores the group's consistency. Staying true to a sonic approach that flows lyrically like a collective subconscious, the players sound just similar enough, without sounding identical. Perhaps in another edit, the album would end with this track - leaving the listener at song's end, with the sensation of slowly awakening from a pleasant dream.” -– Matt Elweig, JAZZIZ, June 2002

“Pianist Doug Hall's quartet produces attractive music that even at its faster tempos, has a continuity of calm and placidity. Each of the eight tracks on Jihi is well made, well played and pleasant. In that regard, the album succeeds on its own terms; peacefulness and relaxation. When the cd ends, the attentive listener - this one, at least- recalls the feeling and the mood of the album more thab the specifics of the music. If that is Hall's goal, he , saxophonist Adam Kolker, bassist John Abert and drummer Bruce Hall achieved it. I would like to have heard more of Kolker's bass clarinet, which on "Dark Stream" has an intriguing adventurousness that seems to urge Hall in the same direction. Maybe it is the other way around. In either case, "Darkstream" is the highlight. "Jihi" and "Under The Rainbow, " an impressionistic reworking of "Over The Rainbow," are close seconds.” -– Doug Ramsey, JazzTimes Magazine

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