There'll no doubt be a plethora of posthumous Haden releases in the months to come, and this reissue of a 1990 live duo set from Montreal (a festival where Haden had a part-curatorial role) is a good start. Although Hall could be devastatingly abstract in the late 1990s – a 1999 Barbican concert springs to mind – here he's at his pure, mainstream best. Haden, too, is a model of harmonic support for Hall's chordal solos, so that on ‘First Song’ for instance, he shadows Hall's invention almost telepathically. By this stage in both men's careers, each had specialised in duo playing, and the easy interaction between them shows a spontaneous rapport that was clearly fun and rewarding for both. By the end of the decade, suffering from tinnitus and forced to wear ear defenders, Haden was less keen on this kind of very exposed role in concert so it's good to have such a fine example of this aspect of his work in a live setting, with an audience who are quiet as mice during the exchanges and vocal in their appreciation between songs. Hall ventures into some echo-ey effects on the blues ‘Turnaround’ and plays with time over Haden's imperturbable pulse. The highlight, however, is an intense reworking of ‘Skylark’, Hall dismembering the ballad in a long unaccompanied solo at the outset, and then slipping into an affectionate reconstruction as the bass slides into place alongside him.