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Sunny Kim, Vardan Ovsepian, Ben Monder: Liminal Silence
by Alberto Bazzurro
Un felice cocktail acustico/elettr(on)ico con sostanziosa e significativa presenza vocale (quindi triplice) è quanto ci giunge da questo album, inciso nella primavera 2023 da una cantante coreana trapiantata in Australia, un pianista estone e un chitarrista statunitense (il più noto dei tre). Un ventaglio geografico così composito, evidentemente, non poteva non dar vita a un progetto altrettanto composito, per quanto, come si diceva, assolutamente coeso nei percorsi e negli esiti. Nella vocalità di Sunny Kim c'è addirittura ...
read moreGeorge Winstone: Odysseus
by Neil Duggan
Surprisingly, George Winstone's album Odysseus has no connection with Greek Mythology, the Trojan War or Homer's epic poem. For Winstone, the title just seemed to fit. Indeed, it does seem apt; the soundscapes and moods that Winstone, together with guitarist Ben Monder, create would be suitable for the arc of many a journey narrative. London-born saxophonist Winstone released his first EP in 2018. The following year, to move his career forward, he relocated to New York City. Monder ...
read moreBenjamin Boone: Caught in the Rhythm
by Paul Rauch
The connection between poetry and jazz music is a delicate one. It has been documented so infrequently, in performance and recordings, that one still conjures the flicker of an image of Jack Kerouac reading in some dark Greenwich Village cafe with Steve Allen or Zoot Sims, surrounded by beret-wearing, cappuccino-sipping beatniks. The work of Fresno-based saxophonist Benjamin Boone has assisted in widening that view through four albums recorded for the Origin Records label, including the fourth, Caught in the Rhythm ...
read moreYelena Eckemoff: I Am a Stranger in This World
by Mark Sullivan
Russian-born pianist/composer Yelena Eckemoff began setting verses from the Bible's Book of Psalms shortly after her conversion to Christianity, even before her emigration to the United States. But she waited until she had considerable experience working with jazz musicians before producing her jazz arrangements. They were first recorded on her album Better Than Gold and Silver [L&H Production, 2018], which presented ten Psalm settings in both vocal and instrumental versions. The detailed story of how Yelena Eckemoff came to set ...
read moreBen Monder / Tony Malaby / Tom Rainey: Live In Lisbon
by Mark Corroto
Although we mourn the millions (estimated 6.5 million) of lives lost in the the great pandemic of the 21st century, some good things have survived. For our purposes, great expressions in music making. Live In Lisbon is a perfect example. Guitarist Ben Monder assembled a trio with saxophonist Tony Malaby and drummer Tom Rainey at the cusp of the pandemic in March of 2020 to perform at his Tuesday gig in New York. Eschewing written composition for an all improvised ...
read moreDave Liebman: Trust And Honesty
by Chris May
Dave Liebman's Trust And Honesty is the third release in Newvelle Records' limited edition audiophile-vinyl autumn 2022 Renewal Collection. It follows Elan Mehler's There Is A Dance and Michael Blake's Combobulate, both previously reviewed on these pages. Liebman's album is an unassuming little gem. It takes a master musician to take a selection of familiar ballads, give them simple, straightforward readings with an average duration of around four minutes, and come up with something so lovely and ...
read moreRandal Despommier: A Midsummer Odyssey
by Jerome Wilson
Lars Gullin was a Swedish baritone saxophonist active mainly in the Fifties and Sixties and known for his work on his native jazz scene as well as playing with American stars such as Chet Baker and Lee Konitz. His compositions were an early example of a European musician mixing the sounds of his home country with American jazz, bringing a thoughtful Nordic calm into the cool jazz realm. Alto saxophonist Randal Despommier is a long-time Gullin fan and, on this ...
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