Storyteller: Circles/All Across the City

Performer: Jim Hall
Artist: Rufus Reid; Gil Goldstein; Terry Clarke
Engineer: Ed Trabanco; Phil Edwards
Producer: Carl E. Jefferson; Carl Jefferson
Distributor: Universal Distribution

Notes: STORYTELLER contains 2 original Jim Hall LPs on 2 CD's: CIRCLES (1981) and ALL ACROSS THE CITY (1989). Includes liner notes by Nat Hentoff. CIRCLES: Personnel: Jim Hall (guitar); Don Thompson (piano, bass); Rufus Reid (bass); Terry Clarke (drums). Recorded at Soundmixers, New York, New York in March 1981. Originally released on Concord (4161). ALL ACROSS THE CITY: Personnel: Jim Hall (guitar); Gil Goldstein (keyboards); Steve La Spina (bass); Terry Clarke (drums). Recorded at Penny Lane Studios, New York, New York in May 1989. Originally released on Concord (4384). Personnel: Jim Hall (guitar); Don Thompson Quartet (piano); Gil Goldstein (keyboards); Terry Clarke (drums). Audio Remixer: Phil Edwards . Liner Note Author: Nat Hentoff. Recording information: Penny Lane Studios, New York, NY (03/1981-05/1989); Soundmixers, New York, NY (03/1981-05/1989). It's difficult to go wrong with albums by Jim Hall; and STORYTELLER, a reissue that puts two of the guitarist's Concord releases from the 1980s (CIRCLES and ALL ACROSS THE CITY) together on one double-CD set, is an excellent value. As usual, there is plenty of exquisite, lyrical playing from Hall, whose cool, subtle, yet always harmonically advanced, lines never fail to impress and enchant. Hall is joined here by drummer Terry Clarke, bassists Rufus Reid, Steve LaSpina and Don Thompson (the latter doubling on piano), and keyboardist Gil Goldstein, who change up tempos and moods with a keen attention to group interplay and dynamics. There are exercises in blues here ("T.C. Blues"), standards ("Prelude to a Kiss" and Irving Berlin's "How Deep Is the Ocean?"), a playful take on Thelonious Monk ("Bemsha Swing"), and a dip into Latin waters with a bossa nova number ("Beija-Flor"). Elsewhere, the musicians throw themselves into churning exploration (the Thompson-penned "R.E.M. State") and quiet evocations of place ("All Across the City"). No matter what the style, Hall and his group perform wonderfully, and STORYTELLER--with its two full-length albums--offers twice as much beauty.

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