Guitarist Jim Hall and valve trombonist Bob Brookmeyer, both of whom emerged as major jazz figures during the “cool” jazz era of the 1950s, made this quietly gorgeous live recording at the North Sea Jazz Festival in The Hague in 1979. One might expect a spare and minimal sound from this instrumental configuration, but Hall’s guitar fills in the vertical harmonic spaces nicely and the dark, warm timbre of Brookmeyer’s trombone makes everything sound rich and well developed. There are moments of improvised counterpoint here that are nothing short of hair-raisingly beautiful.

– Rick Anderson