Jim Hall – Scott Colley Duo

The 81-year old American jazz guitarist, Jim Hall is a living legend. Many of his colleagues, including some other legends, unabashedly praise his talent. Some names that come to mind include Bill Frisell, John Scofield, and Pat Metheny. The master of lyrical understatement and beautiful melodic phrasing will be coming to Ghent, together with the superb bassist, Scott Colley.

Some jazz musicians are like wine, they just better as the years pass and this adage certainly applies to Jim Hall. The leading weekly, The New Yorker, calls him the “reigning master of the jazz guitar”. Hall has continued to refine and perfect his style since his timeless recordings in the Fifties and Sixties with Sonny Rollins, Jimmy Giuffre, Paul Desmond and Bill Evans. While the Wall Street Journal opined that ‘Mr Hall has a sound as recognizable as the voice of a friend’.

He started out playing with the Chico Hamilton Quintet, was a member of the Jimmy Giuffre trio and accompanied Ella Fitzgerald, followed by stints with Ben Webster, John Lewis, Zoot Sims, Paul Desmond, Lee Konitz and Bill Evans. He played on such albums as ‘The Bridge’ with Sonny Rollins and that quintessential masterpiece, ‘Undercurrent’, with pianist Bill Evans. Later in life he came to the fore more prominently, becoming more productive and recording such seminal albums as ‘Dialogues’ with Bill Frisell, Mike Stern and Joe Lovano. Other notable albums include his ‘Magic Meeting’ (as the Jim Hall trio with Scott Colley and Lewis Nash) and ‘Duologues’ (with the pianist, Enrico Pieranunzi).

During this period he also started to collect his first awards, including the prestigious Danish Jazzpar award. He received a NEA Jazz Masters Fellowship in 2004 and was one of the first artists to join the Artistshare label, which is directly funded by fans, and which issued his album, ‘Magic Meeting’.

Scott Colley collaborated on the album ‘Dialogues’ and without a doubt is Jim Hall’s preferred bassist. His first big break was with the singer, Carmen McRae. Scott Colley is a much sought-after sideman and the list of musicians with whom he has worked is impressive to say the least. He is increasingly garnering attention thanks to his own work. In recent years he recorded two noteworthy albums: ‘Architect of The Silent Moment’ and ‘Empire’.