Hasaan: The Last Unissued Tracks,1

Hasaan Ibn Ali, known simply as Hasaan, was one of the great legends of Philadelphia jazz, and was known and respected by John Coltrane, McCoy Tyner, Bill and Kenny Barron, Odean Pope, and, really, all Philly musicians of the late 1940s through the 1960s. He was born in 1931 as William Lankford, Jr. (he spelled it Langford), and he appears to have received his Muslim name in 1949. When he died in 1980, he had only one album ever released, the trio album with Max Roach and Art Davis, recorded in December 1964.

But if you’ve been following the “jazz news” at all during the past few years, you know that Alan Sukoenig has been on a mission to honor and preserve the music of Hasaan. He happens to live near me in Manhattan, and I connected him with the Omnivore record label. This resulted in the release of about four hours of previously unknown Hasaan recordings:

A quartet album with Odean Pope (Metaphysics) that was recorded for Atlantic in 1965 but never previously released.

A double-album of solo piano performances (Retrospect In Retirement Of Delay) that Sukoenig and his late friend, saxophonist Dave Shrier, taped when they befriended Hasaan while in college and shortly afterward, in 1962, 1964 and 1965.

An album of various other tracks from Sukoenig’s library (Reaching for the Stars), including trio tracks with Henry Grimes, duos with a singer, and solos.

The reviews have been uniformly ecstatic, and there is absolute agreement that we now have a substantial legacy with which to evaluate Hasaan, and that he was just as amazing as everyone had claimed, both as pianist and composer. And the first two releases have well-researched essays by Alan filling in many previously unknown details of Hasaan’s life.

But—prepare yourself!—Alan Sukoenig has five more tracks which were held back from release (due to various causes, as we’ll explain). And he has kindly offered to let me share them with you! I’ll post two today, and three next time.

The longest of these tracks, Cole Porter’s "Easy to Love," was the last to be recorded on October 25, 1964. It wasn’t released because the very beginning and ending are missing, but there is a lot of music here! Hasaan plays it in the usual key of G, and although the piano is out of tune, he has a lot to “say,” as always:

Hasaan’s composition “Pay Not Play Not” appeared on the album with Roach, and a version labeled Take 1 was issued on Reaching for the Stars. Possibly you’ve wondered why it said “Take 1” when that usually means there is another take on the album. Well, there is indeed another take, but it was never issued. This is from a trio tape with Henry Grimes on bass and Kalil Madi on drums, recorded probably in 1962, that Hasaan gave to Dave Shrier without explanation. It was presumably a demo tape, recorded by an engineer. The beginning and the very end are a bit rough, which is why this wasn’t chosen for the album. At 0:50 he begins his solo by quoting “Taking a Chance on Love”:

There is a bit of discussion at the end. Hasaan says or asks, “We can have them fade it out?” And indeed this piece was faded out on the album version with Roach, recorded about two years later.

I will share the remaining tracks with you next time, thanks to Alan Sukoenig.

All the best,
Lewis