Jazz Articles about Ben Goldberg

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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 ...

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Scott Amendola - Ben Goldberg - Devin Hoff: Plays Monk

by AAJ Italy Staff
May 14, 2008

Nel febbraio 2007 cadeva il 25° anniversario della scomparsa di Thelonius Monk. Tra i pochi tributi alla sua grandezza realizzati in quell'occasione, c’è Plays Monk, pubblicato proprio alla fine dell’anno scorso, anche se registrato nel novembre 2004. Certo, Monk è stato oggetto nel tempo di omaggi memorabili, oltre che della viscerale attenzione riservatagli da molti grandi, inoltre le sue composizioni costituiscono uno tra i repertori jazzistici più battuti e riproposti. Eppure la piccola dedica di questo trio californiano si fa ...

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Ben Goldberg Quintet: The Door, The Hat, The Chair, The Fact

by AAJ Italy Staff
September 28, 2006

Clarinettista personale, ma soprattutto compositore raffinato (di lui ricordiamo il bel Eight Phrases for Jefferson Rubin, del 1998 per la Victo), Ben Goldberg presenta questo omaggio a Steve Lacy, di cui fu allievo, pensato al momento della notizia della malattia del grande sopranista e registrato alcuni giorni dopo la sua morte. La formazione con la quale Goldberg affronta la prova è un quintetto di musicisti navigati, sebbene non notissimi, senza pianoforte e - su di una tradizionale ritmica basso-batteria - ...

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Ben Goldberg Quintet: The Door, The Hat, The Chair, The Fact

by Elliott Simon
July 27, 2006

This is music that produces seemingly random associations as snippets of form and formlessness lead you to free, or perhaps not so freely, associate. Personal experiences dovetail with these compositions, which lead through nodes of memory and mood: from poet Robert Creeley to Alan Ginsburg to swing, world and free, through Bechet, Bird and Trane and then, of course, to the late soprano saxophonist Steve Lacy. Poet Rosmarie Waldrop speaks of how we can examine by boring down or zooming ...

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Ben Goldberg Quintet: The Door, The Hat, The Chair, The Fact

by Tom Greenland
May 11, 2006

Steve Lacy may no longer be here, but he's “hear" these days, a musical spirit living on in many facets and forms. Clarinetist Ben Goldberg's quintet has recorded a loving tribute to Lacy in The Door, The Hat, The Chair, The Fact, a collection of poignant vignettes, interpretations and revitalizations.

Goldberg, known for his progressive take on klezmer and for various projects that mix Northern Californian flavoring with a downtown NYC avant-jazz sensibility, gathered vocalist/violinist Carla Kihlstedt (from the Tin ...

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Ben Goldberg Quintet: The Door, The Hat, The Chair, The Fact

by Jerry D'Souza
March 8, 2006

Ben Goldberg returns after a seven-year absence from recording with one for Steve Lacy. Goldberg wrote the music in 2004 when he came to know that the soprano saxophonist had cancer. The album was recorded three days after Lacy died.

Lacy's “Blinks is in a state of constant flux. Goldberg's clarinet breaks up the lines, but the piece becomes volatile and churns relentlessly when violinist Carla Kihlstedt bows in. With bassist Devin Hoff and drummer Ches Smith roiling beneath, this ...

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Ben Goldberg Quintet: The Door, The Hat, The Chair, The Fact

by John Kelman
February 16, 2006

He's been active for fifteen years, but unless you know the New Klezmer Trio or have followed the Bay Area scene, chances are you haven't heard of clarinetist Ben Goldberg. Despite appearing on records by Charlie Hunter, Tin Hat Trio and John Zorn, in addition to half a dozen albums released under his own name, he's never managed to grab significant attention, despite the relatively light competition in the jazz clarinet arena. So hopefully The Door, The Hat, The Chair, ...