SLAMCD328 Paul Rutherford & George Haslam feat. Samuli Mikkonen Trio – Raahe ’99 (For Paul Rutherford)

A recently discovered live recording of Paul Rutherford and George Haslam with the Samuli Mikkonen Trio at Raahe Festival, in July 1999. A concert of non-stop improvisation with a majestic Rutherford welding together a performance of great international musicmaking. A fitting tribute to the trombonist’s memory.

The album is a single continuous performance, presented in 3 Movements; each movement divided into identification tags to mark different events.

Paul Rutherford: trombone
George Haslam: baritone saxophone, tarogato
Samuli Mikkonen: piano
Uffe Krokfors: double bass
Mika Kallio: drums

“George Haslam must be one of the unsung and underappreciated musicians in British jazz…The performance is impressive, and listened to carefully depicts quite graphically the events on stage that night when five musicians meet and play together for the first time…There is much common ground to be discovered, and with Rutherford perhaps playing in a more abstract manor that his colleagues his knowledge and use of the blues ensure that all have a handle on proceedings, and that is perhaps where Haslam’s baritone is wielded to best effect, acting as a commentator and mediator and helping to keep dialogue flowing with his gruff lines that float between abstraction and a more structured form that prevents dialects from clashing. By the concluding segment of the disc we have been taken on a musical conversation that embraces cultural and musical differences, bring all together in an extended piece that, like a meeting between old and new friends, has humour, depth and warmth in abundance. Paul Rutherford is greatly missed, and it is great to hear him once again on this excellent release.” – Nick Lea, Jazz Views

“It’s hard to imagine a posthumous offering that’s more vital, more present, than Rutherford’s music. He is among those who have unlocked immortality…Raahe ’99 is a completely satisfying piece of music, and a damn lucky find. It’s painful to think that a great capture like this might have been lost for good, spirited away along with one of its creators. Mr. Rutherford is greatly missed, but lives on in a most profound way through performances with peers like those on Raahe, searching musicians who bring out the best in each other.” – ★★★★ Daniel Sorrells, The Free Jazz Collective

“The recording quality is outstanding, a feature that allows the listener to discern and enjoy the various instrumental behaviours over the interplay’s general streaming. This approach to the act of listening to jazz should never be overlooked: the opportunity to maintain a focus on the separate sources while being affected by the music’s tensions, releases and even contradictions…Unsurprisingly, Rutherford and Haslam appear to be in charge of the situation. The former’s garrulous flights of imagination, incisive forthrightness and unmistakably superior timbre remind us of what a knowledgeable soloist he was; the latter’s near-improbable blend of melodic peacefulness and stimulating swiftness defines perhaps the album’s salient moments…The three-headed counterpart is brilliantly restrained and supportive of the masters through the full set.” – Massimo Ricci, The Squid’s Ear

“While the trombonist may be best known for his staggering solo records, he also contributed positively to any number of free and structured situations. This 53-minute freely extemporized set with its freebop approach neatly encapsulates both styles. Rutherford mixes hums, gurgles and buzzes with brassy rumbustiousness, demonstrating a fantastic and unpredictable range of expression. Even when at his most broodily lyrical, he undercuts it by interspersing some frog-like croaks. Haslam makes impassioned baritone statements, but also cuts an alternately angular and droning line on tarogato. Mikkonen’s hammered tremolos ratchet up the intensity and he proves himself a probing accompanist, his jabbing motifs serving to jostle and realign the collective trajectory.” – John Sharpe, The New York City Jazz Record

“Unheralded and largely unknown beyond their free improv admirers, George Haslam, Preston-born baritone saxophonist and introducer and master of the Hungarian tarogato horn into jazz, and Greenwich-born trombonist Paul Rutherford have both created canons of enormous stature and originality…Nobody in jazz ever played a trombone like Rutherford. The Finns were hearing it here on their blessed beach, and when Haslam’s deep baritone returns it is as if he is responding not to a summons but an oratory…What is remarkable about this record is that not a note is superfluous or egotistic – five men meet on a faraway beach, make wondrous music and cease, not knowing that their sounds are being captured, then they travel on and make more.” – Chris Searle, Morning Star

“Paul Rutherford had a singular voice on his trusty trombone and was one of the finest musicians to emerge from the European jazz scene. His passing in 2007 was a great loss to us all so finding unreleased music from him and his occasional collaborator is a rare treat…It is superbly recorded, completely focused and often explosive…The entire disc has a joyous, uplifting vibe and is exciting and engaging from the beginning until the end.” – Bruce Lee Gallanter, Downtown Music Gallery

Recorded Saturday, 31 July 1999 at Raahen Rantajatsit Festival
Recorded by Pertti Kinnunen
Mastered by Eric Smith, Monstersound

SLAM CATALOGUE