Though he's probably best known as a founding member of the revolutionary Ornette Coleman Quartet of the late 1950s, the bassist Charlie Haden has for the past 10 years led his own Los Angeles-based Quartet West, a group devoted to resurrecting music that goes back even further – to the post-World War II era of bebop and film noir. On their fifth and most elegantly understated album yet, Quartet West create a nostalgic, subtly swinging collage of old-fashioned melodies and modern arrangements that plays like the soundtrack to an imaginary 1940s movie.

Buoyed by Haden's resonant, low-end bass, the group invests even the most outdated romantic themes with fresh meaning. While languid string arrangements weigh down some of the music, tunes like Charlie Parker's frenetic "Back Home Blues," the Calypso-flavored "Marables' Parable" and Haden's ode to Casablanca, "Here's Looking at You," move with a delicate grace. Particularly on "The Left Hand of God," rescued from the score of an obscure Humphrey Bogart film, Haden pushes and tugs at the gentle melody, transforming the song from a melancholy interlude into a statement as urgent and beautiful as anything he's recorded. (RS 734)

JASON FINE