Jazz Articles about Ben Goldberg

Two Sides of Ben Goldberg

by Troy Collins
February 18, 2013

Developments in the evolving recording industry have inspired an increasing number of musicians to form their own labels. San Francisco-based clarinetist Ben Goldberg, a veteran of the 1990s Downtown New York scene, joined many of his peers in 2009 with Go Home, the inaugural release of his BAG Production Records imprint. Goldberg's prior efforts, issued by independents like Songlines and Tzadik, included an assortment of diverse projects, ranging from the Radical Jewish Culture experiments of the New Klezmer Trio to ...

Ben Goldberg: Go Home

by Troy Collins
April 2, 2010

From the debut of his seminal New Klezmer Trio two decades ago to his current membership in the inimitable collective Tin Hat, clarinetist Ben Goldberg has gradually worked his way from the outer fringes of the avant-garde to the accessible center of the new jazz underground. Go Home is the inaugural release of his own label, BAG Production, and the premier of his most approachable band.

Aided by guitarist Charlie Hunter, drummer Scott Amendola and cornetist Ron Miles, ...

Ben Goldberg: Clarinet Communion

by Warren Allen
March 30, 2010

The diversity of clarinetist Ben Goldberg's musical interests may only be matched by the intensity of his study. He grew up on The Beatles and classic jazz, started playing Klezmer music at the University of California, Berkeley in the early '80s, and studied with renowned classical clarinet teacher Rosario Mazzeo. In 1984, he became the clarinetist for The Klezmorim, touring throughout the U.S. and Europe, where he also met and learned from the legendary soprano saxophonist Steve Lacy. In 1987, ...

Ben Goldberg: Go Home

by Dan McClenaghan
March 28, 2010

This disc rocks, which is not something normally said about sets led by a clarinetist. But it doesn't begin that way. The sound of Go Home, from clarinetist/composer Ben Goldberg, croons to life with a smooth and creamy licorice stick/cornet unison interlude on “TGO," with the dark wood-wielding leader joined by brass man Ron Miles for a duo introduction. Then, thirty seconds in, the crunch and slam rock element rears its head, pushed to the surface by 7-String guitar ace ...

Ben Goldberg's Bag: Tin Hat & Go Home

by Dan Bilawsky
March 27, 2010

Ben Goldberg's music has never followed a set course or formula and the forward-thinking clarinetist always sticks to his guns when making artistic decisions. This has often resulted in positive press for his innovative work and it appears to have propelled him to take control of his own destiny. BAG Production Records is Goldberg's new, self-created label and it serves as an outlet for him to present his recordings to the world at large. Goldberg's work with reed players John ...

Ben Goldberg: Go Home

by Sean Patrick Fitzell
January 12, 2010

A comfortable familiarity permeates Go Home, the latest project from veteran clarinetist Ben Goldberg and the first offering from his Bag Production Records. Culled from both studio and live cuts, these feel-good romps suggest the intimacy of a jam session. He enlists longtime collaborators Charlie Hunter on seven-string guitar, Ron Miles on trumpet and cornet and Scott Amendola on drums, and their easy rapport fosters the music's success. Trafficking in meaty mid- and slow-cooking tempos, the group ...

Ben Goldberg: Go Home

by John Kelman
December 15, 2009

Between the rather eclectic and enigmatic The Door, The Chair, The Hat, The Fact (Cryptogramophone, 2006) and Plays Monk (Long Song, 2007), his characteristically idiosyncratic and unorthodox trio take on the music of Thelonious Monk, clarinetist Ben Goldberg continues to expand his broad musical interests, heard in earlier groups including Tin Hat and New Klezmer Trio. Few American artists other than Don Byron and Perry Robinson have focused so exclusively on this small wooden reed instrument, and while Goldberg's left-of-center ...