NAIMCD112
J

+ I2008 Naim Audio Ltd. LC: 00794

All rights of the producers and the

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Unauthorised copying, hiring, lending,

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recording prohibited. Made in the UK.

  1 

Q U E   S E R A   S E R A  

6.41

Jay Livingston

/

Ray Evans (Universal MCA Music

/

Warner Chappell)

  2 

W H E N   T H E   H E A R T   D A N C E S  

4.49

Laurence Hobgood (LH Music BMI)

  3 

F I R S T   S O N G  

* 6.11

Charlie Haden (Sony ATV Music)

  4 

S A N C T U A R Y  

** 7.34

Laurence Hobgood (LH Music BMI)

  5 

C H I C K O R E E  

5.17

Charlie Haden

/

Laurence Hobgood (Sony ATV Music

/

LH Music BMI)

  6 

S T A I R W A Y   T O   T H E   S T A R S  

* 5.26

Matt Malneck

/

Frank Signorelli

/

Mitchell Parish (EMI Music)

  7 

N E W   O R L E A N S  

5.39

Hoagy Carmichael (Peer Music)

  8 

W H Y   D I D   I   C H O O S E   Y O U ?  

6.44

Michael Leonard

/

Herbert Martin (Chappell Morris)

  9 

L E A T H E R W O O D  

** 5.53

Laurence Hobgood (LH Music BMI)

10 

D A Y D R E A M  

* 4.45

Duke Ellington

/

Billy Strayhorn (Robbins Music

/

State One Music)

11 

T H E   C O S T   O F   L I V I N G  

5.34

Don Grolnick (Universal Music)

Total playing time: 64.37

Performed by: 

L A U R E N C E   H O B G O O D 

piano

C H A R L I E   H A D E N 

double-bass

except:

* featuring

K U R T   E L L I N G 

vocals

** performed solo by Laurence Hobgood

A True

 Stereo

 recor

ding by

 K

en Chr

istianson, Pro

 Musica,

 Chicago

using Nagr

a 4S

 (an

alogue

 ta

pes m

astered in

 24bi

t 96kHz

 Nagr

a VI

 Digi

tal)

Laurence

 Hobgood

 &

 Ch

arlie Haden

 recor

ded a

t: 

Roy 

O. Disney

 Music

 Hall,

 V

alenc

ia, California

 (March

 2008)

Piano tuning:

 Alan

 Eder

Kur

t Elling

 recor

ded a

t Goodspeed

  Hall,

 Uni

versi

ty of

 Chicago

 (Ma

y 2008)

Assistant 

recording

 engineer:

 Dustin

 Camm

ack

Photos: K

en Chr

istianson

Art

wor

k a

nd

 d

esi

gn

: w

ww

.M

axF

ran

osc

h.c

om

 

Kur

t Elling appears courtesy of Concor

d Records

Charlie Haden appears cour

tesy of Decca Records

TH

AN

K 

YO

U

Pau

l S

tep

hen

son

, S

im

on

 D

rak

e, T

rac

i C

op

ela

nd

 (m

y w

ife

), R

uth

 C

am

ero

n 

(C

har

lie

’s 

wif

e), 

Jen

nif

er 

Ell

in

g, M

ary

 A

nn

 To

pp

er,

 B

ria

n Q

uin

n, C

hri

s D

un

n, 

John

 Burk

e and

 th

e f

in

e f

olk

s a

t C

on

cor

d R

eco

rd

s, J

ack

 Fu

lle

r, D

on

 R

an

dle

, 

Robert 

Kendr

ick, James

 Br

ay,

 Ah

 Jeong

 Kim,

 Daniell

e Mi

jo Mil

es Br

ay,

 

the CalAr

ts peopl

e, Sal

www.then

aimlabel.com

Naim Jazz

Southampton Road, Salisbury,

Wiltshire, SP1 2LN, United Kingdom

[phone]

www.thenaimlabel.com

Noble.

That’

s w

hat

 I hear

 w

hen I 

listen to

 Ch

arlie. Or

 th

at’s

 the

 first

 thing

 I hear

, an

yway

.

I mean

 it’

s all

 there:

 im

aginati

on, em

path

y, h

armony,

 pi

tch, rh

ythmic dimensi

on, clar

ity

, com

plexi

ty of

 texture,

 sim

plicity

 

of cen

ter...

But if

 you

 w

ant to

 sum

 it

 u

p: nobl

e. Nobili

ty. Y

ou can

 feel

 it.

 It’

s not

 con

triv

ed; it’

s actual.

 It’

s a

 h

uman

 being

 w

ho’s li

ved

 the

 

music

 un

til they

 are

 the

 m

usic. Ev

erything he’

s seen,

 ev

erything he’

s fel

t, is

 in

 ev

ery phr

ase, balanced,

 n

uanced, a

 li

ving 

expression

 of

 the

 h

uman

 condi

tion.

Sp

eak

in

g o

f “

bei

ng 

th

e m

usi

c”,

 it

 se

em

s f

itt

in

g t

o r

eco

gn

ize

 th

e t

wo 

am

azi

ng 

in

str

um

en

ts 

hea

rd 

her

e. 

Pia

nos

 ar

e a

 fi

ck

le 

th

in

g, a

s v

ari

ed

 in

 p

ers

on

ali

ty 

as 

peo

ple

. A

nd

 li

ke 

peo

ple

, m

ain

ten

an

ce 

is 

key

, f

req

uen

tly

 n

on

-op

tim

al,

 

and mostl

y misunderstood.

 This

 Stein

way

 D

, in

 the

 Ro

y O

. Disney

 Hall

 a

t CalAr

ts, is

 the

 trul

y for

tunate

 benefic

iary of

 a

 

recent,

 thoroughl

y lo

ving and

 finel

y wrough

t m

akeo

ver

. They

 are

 proud

 of

 it,

 and

 w

ell they

 should

 be.

 It

 sings.

And then

 there’

s Ch

arlie’s bass.

 Cr

afted in

 the

 mid-1800s

 by

 the

 grea

t French

 lu

thier Jean-Ba

ptiste V

uillaume,

 this

 am

azing 

in

str

um

en

t l

ite

ral

ly 

com

mu

nes

 w

ith

 th

e a

ir 

su

rro

un

din

g i

t, 

com

man

din

g t

he 

mol

ecu

les

 to

 v

ibr

ate

 ju

st 

so.

 It

s g

ran

d, 

resonan

t presence

 is

 an

 acoustic

 w

onder. 

And of

 course

 here

 you

 hear

 them

 both:

 pure,

 wi

thout el

ectrical

 am

plificati

on. As

 is

 true

 of.

..

Did I 

say 

“tw

o am

azing instrumen

ts?” 

Kur

t. 

Man, K

urt 

sounds grea

t.

I lik

e to

 think

 th

at 

neither

 m

yself nor

 the

 peopl

e I

 w

ork wi

th w

ould e

ver

 tak

e each

 other

 for

 gr

anted

 b

ut,

 ul

timatel

y, i

t’s 

unav

oidable.

 It’

s d

ue to

 the

 equall

y un

avoidabl

e combin

ati

on of

 1)

 being

 discerning

 (picky)

 enough

 to

 be

 abl

e to

 DO

 this

 

(play 

jazz m

usic) a

t all,

 and

 2)

 in

 our

 case,

 en

joying

 each

 other’

s com

pany 

more hours

 per

 year

 th

an most

 immedia

te famil

y 

mem

ber

s d

o. 

So I

 try

 consc

iousl

y to

 listen

 to

 K

urt 

with

 fresh

 ears

 as

 m

uch as

 I 

can. Ov

er the

 last

 fifteen

 y

ears I’

ve 

heard 

him e

vol

ve 

a 

rea

l, t

ota

l, v

oca

l in

str

um

en

t. S

om

eth

in

g r

are

ly 

ach

iev

ed

, n

o m

att

er 

how

 m

an

y “

sin

ger

s” 

th

ere

 m

igh

t b

e. T

hat

’s 

th

e h

igh

est

 

praise

 I can

 think

 of,

 and

 he

 deserv

es e

very

 bi

t of

 it.

Coinciden

tally,

 it’

s roughl

y o

ver

 the

 last

 fifteen

 y

ears th

at 

I’ve

 hear

d K

en Chr

istianson e

vol

ve 

his system

 for

 ca

pturing

 

pure sound.

 Beginning

 wi

th a

 random

 nigh

t a

t the

 Green

 Mill

 in

 Chicago

, r

ight 

through to

 this

 project,

 K

en’s 

devel

oped 

his method

 wi

th an

 uncom

promising ear

 for

 quali

ty of

 sound;

 a

t the

 same

 time,

 he’

s sho

wn himself

 to

 be

 open-minded

 

to techno

logical

 im

provemen

ts th

at 

aren’t gimmick

s b

ut 

which

 actuall

y enh

ance the

 recor

ding process.

 The

 resul

ts of

 his

 

patien

t ste

war

dship

 speak

 for

 themsel

ves.

When w

e w

ere star

ting to

 plan

 this

 project

 I 

bum

ped in

to Ch

arlie a

t the

 IA

JE (In

ternati

onal

 Assoc

iati

on of

 Jazz

 Ed

ucators)

 

conven

tion.

 W

e greeted

 each

 other

 and

 ch

atted

 for

 a 

moment.

 I remember

 both

 of

 us

 commen

ting on

 the

 gener

al confusi

on 

and m

ayhem

 th

at 

is the

 recor

ding ind

ustry these

 da

ys. He

 said

 something

 lik

e, “Man,

 I 

don’t kno

w abou

t y

ou, b

ut 

the 

cra

zie

r t

hin

gs 

get

, t

he 

mor

e I 

th

in

k h

ow

 n

ice

 it

 is

 to

 m

ak

e r

eco

rds

 fo

r N

aim

 w

her

e w

e c

an

 ju

st 

pla

y m

usi

c –

 w

e s

hou

ld

 ju

st 

keep

 doing

 th

at!”

If I 

hav

e an

ything to

 sa

y abou

t it,

 th

at’s

 exactl

y w

hat

 w

e’re going

 to

 do

.

LA

UR

EN

CE

 H

OB

GO

OD

L A U R E N C E   H O B G O O D

Charlie 

Haden  

Kurt 

Elling

w h e n   t h e   h e a r t   d a n c e s

LH.indd 1

30/1/09 11:58:29