Articles by Eric Benson

Eric Revis Quartet at the Jazz Gallery: Old-Time Rhythms

by Eric Benson
September 10, 2009

Eric Revis QuartetJazz GalleryNew York, NYAugust 28, 2009 I don't imagine the Eric Revis Quartet was assembled with reconciliation in mind, but to a hobbled veteran of the Jazz Wars--the squabbles and skirmishes over the music's boundaries that raged throughout the '80s, '90s, and early aughts--the lineup would look like an improvising West-Eastern Divan Orchestra. Bassist Eric Revis, the group's leader, is best known for his longtime collaboration with Branford Marsalis, one of jazz's grumpy ...

The Making of Icons Among Us: Jazz in the Present Tense

by Eric Benson
June 15, 2009

On an August morning in 1958, a 33-year-old photographer named Art Kane gathered 57 jazz musicians together on the steps of a Harlem brownstone. The resulting picture, known as “A Great Day in Harlem," appeared in the January 1959 issue of Esquire and has become the most famous image in jazz history. The photograph lacks the emotional intimacy of many famous jazz portraits--Coltrane at the Vanguard, contemplative with sweat on the brow; Miles in the studio, hungry behind great bug ...

Brad Mehldau at the Village Vanguard

by Eric Benson
May 15, 2009

Brad Mehldau Trio Village Vanguard New York, NY May 5 & 9, 2009 No major jazz artist of the last 25 years has been more closely associated with a single venue than pianist Brad Mehldau with the Village Vanguard. Of the 11 trio albums he's released since signing with Warner Bros in 1994, four have been recorded live at jazz's most hallowed club. Pianist Bill Evans—who had a similarly synergistic relationship with the Vanguard ...

The Making of Darcy James Argue's "Infernal Machines"

by Eric Benson
May 8, 2009

---> “It was like trying to shoot Laurence of Arabia on a Clerks budget," says the 33-year-old composer/conductor Darcy James Argue of his debut album, Infernal Machines (New Amsterdam), which will be released next Tuesday, May 12. Argue didn't have to tread such a quixotic path. Up until five years ago, he was performing as a pianist in small groups, playing clubs and jam sessions. Had he decided against dedicating himself full-time to Secret Society—his 18-piece big band—he might now ...

Icons Among Us: Jazz in the Present Tense - World Premiere

by Eric Benson
April 22, 2009

Icons Among Us: Jazz in the Present TenseWorld PremiereThe Allen Room at Jazz at Lincoln CenterNew York, NYApril 15, 2009 The Jazz Wars are over. Now what? A new documentary asks.

Since the early 1980s, jazz has been engaged in its own nonviolent, low-intensity civil war. Decentralized and often unrelated bands of avant-gardists, fusionistas, and other dissidents have struggled to defend their territory against the fast encroaching empire of the Young Lions—those ...

Trio of One: Fly at the Jazz Standard

by Eric Benson
April 20, 2009

FlyJazz StandardNew York, NYApril 10, 2009 Instruments are versatile husks, possessing limited range and a particular timbre, but no set personality of their own. The piano can channel the thoughts of musicians as different from one another as Cecil Taylor and Bill Evans; the saxophone can express the passions of Stan Getz just as easily as it can those of Albert Ayler. Yet despite the diversity, instruments get broadly typecast: the trumpet with Miles' feline ...

The Primal Waters of Pure Consciousness: Cecil Taylor at Merkin Hall

by Eric Benson
April 8, 2009

Cecil TaylorMerkin Concert Hall New York, NY March 28, 2009 Cecil Taylor shuffled in from the wings with knitted tube socks pulled up over his sweatpants, ignored the Steinway grand that dominated centerstage, and began to read. A shapeless nurturer, distilled...Australopithecus, pebble culture...A convergence and continuum...Emerging lunar-tidal-circles...Primal waters of pure consciousness...Oblivious to a centimeter squared...CYMA, CYMA, C-Y-M-A

The Inside Out Band: Enrico Rava Quintet at Birdland

by Eric Benson
April 3, 2009

Enrico Rava QuintetBirdlandNew York, NYMarch 25, 2009 Before last Wednesday night, I'd never found the work of Italian pianist Stefano Bollani particularly compelling. Sure, he had that pristine touch, Evans-eque in its haunting elegance, but on albums such as his own Solo Piano and Enrico Rava's Tati, his playing sounded like it fluttered above the music instead of digging into it. Why, I used to think, does he need to be so precious?

Higher Standards: Ethan Iverson Trio at Smalls

by Eric Benson
April 2, 2009

Ethan Iverson Trio, with Ben Street and Albert “Tootie" HeathSmalls New York, NY March 23, 2009 In the final scene of the film Big Night, the manager of an Italian restaurant played by Stanley Tucci makes a plain three-egg omelette--no cheese, no onions or peppers, just a little olive oil and three brown eggs. The night before, Tucci's restaurant had hosted a feast of pasta towers, suckling pig, and mounds of risotto--pull-out-the-stops dishes ...

Sphinx and Preacher: James Carter and the Odean Pope Saxophone Choir

by Eric Benson
March 20, 2009

Odean Pope Saxophone Choir, featuring James Carter Blue Note New York, New York March 15, 2009 For the first thirty minutes of its set on Sunday night, the Odean Pope Saxophone Choir displayed its signature blend of precision and warmth, eight saxophones—nine when Pope stopped conducting and took up his axe—soaring and diving in unison like a well-built wooden rollercoaster. Pope's ensemble delivered a funky opener, a knotty tribute to Max Roach, and ...