The intimate musical get together that occurred in June 1969 was due to a large extent to the close friendship between the inimitable American guitarist Jim Hall and Producer Joachim Ernst Berendt. As Hall was visiting him in Berlin, Berendt proposed a recording with bassist Jim Woode and drummer Daniel Humair; this configuration developed into an intensely introspective session. In such a transparent setting, Hall unfurled all his finest qualities – what Humair perceptively summed up as clarity, purity, sensitivity. Hall’s harmonic brilliance on Up, up and Away, demonstrates how he could turn a pop melody into his own, and Blue Joe reveals a free approach to the blues. Whereas brilliantly coordinated interplay comes to the forefront on the title piece, there are also amazing solo elements. In the style of his idol Bill Evans, Hall engages in an intensive conversation with himself on In a Sentimental Mood and the tender Young One; no note is superfluous, and every tone is heart-felt. With its sophisticated Bossa mood, Romaine delivers a surprising finale to the record. Jim Hall had to wait for over a decade to record a second album under his own name. This recording was ample compensation for the long wait he and his fans endured.
