Track Listing

1. It's Me O Lord (Standin' In The Need Of Prayer)
2. Nobody Knows The Trouble I've Seen
3. Spiritual
4. Wade In The Water
5. Swing Low Sweet Chariot
6. Sometimes I Feel Like A Motherless Child
7. L'amour De Moi
8. Danny Boy
9. I've Got A Robe You Got A Robe (Goin' To Shout All Over God's Heav'n)
10. Steal Away To Jesus
11. We Shall Overcome
12. Go Down Moses
13. My Lord What A Morning
14. Abide With Me/Just As I Am Without One Plea/What A Friend We Have In Jesus/Amazing Grace

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #86693 in Music
• Released on: 2000-10-05
• Number of discs: 1
• Dimensions: .23 pounds

CD Description
From the outset of his career with Ornette Coleman, throughhis work with pianist Keith Jarrett, his own Liberation Music Orchestra and collaborations with the likes of Paul Motian, Hampton Hawes, Chet Baker, Carlos Paredes and Ginger Baker, bassist Charlie Haden has always accorded the spiritual component of music greater importance than its technical considerations.
Haden's finest work has always focused on themost intimate, humanistic principles: freedom, justice, quality. In pianist Hank Jones, Haden encounters a collaboratorand fellow traveller whose musical instincts are every inchas elegant and refined as his own. And in the rich public domain of materials which make up STEAL AWAY, Haden and Jonestake on an oral (and moral) tradition of music that has been inspiring listeners since before the time of the underground railroad.
For the most part, Haden and Jones downplay their jazz stylings--"We Shall Overcome" being a joyous exception--in favour of simple expressive declamations, imparting a timeless feel to each performance. On the concluding "Hymn Medley", for instance, Jones' unadorned, celestial voicings and harp-like fills set the stage for Haden's earnest amens and resonant harmonies, to the theme of "Amazing Grace". Jones treats the opening "It's Me, O Lord (Standin' In The Need Of Prayer)" with modest delicacy, before lifting the tune into a selfless stride groove. Haden's devotional bass intro to "Nobody Knows The Trouble I've Seen" is pure prayer, Jones' rich chords representing a reassuring reply, while Haden's testimonial, "Spiritual", resonates with the devotion of countless rural congregations--black and white.

Customer Reviews

You are invited to worship at the Church of Charlie (and Hank)
I'm not a jazz fan, so why would I give five stars to a record by two consummate modern jazzers? Well for me this isn't a jazz record - it's instrumental gospel, or perhaps religious folk, or... well I'm not sure what it is exactly but I do know that it is the perfect Sunday morning record - hymns, spirituals and "Danny Boy" played absolutely straight on piano and bass.

There is no improvisation here and some could argue that this is a waste of these musicians' talents but although the music is 'simple' in its delivery it is also incredibly beautiful and very moving. I'm not particularly religious but I find this music really spiritual, very calming and yet at the same time uplifting. I don't really know why it is so affecting but the simplicity of the arrangements and the familiarity of the hymns is wonderfully reassuring.