Jazz Articles about Ben LaMar Gay

About Ben LaMar Gay

Album Review

Damon Locks Black Monument Ensemble: Now

by Chris May
March 19, 2021

Chicago-based collective Black Monument Ensemble's sophomore album was recorded in September 2020 at the intersection of various existential crises, as seen from a US perspective: the threat of Trump winning the presidential election, by fair means or foul; the rising tide of fascist ideology; extrajudicial murders of, in particular but not exclusively, black Americans; a galloping pandemic; economic chaos; and social isolation. Given the circumstances, it is no surprise that Now sounds apocalyptic. But it is also ...

Album Review

Jeremy Cunningham: The Weather Up There

Read "The Weather Up There" reviewed by Jakob Baekgaard

by Jakob Baekgaard
February 22, 2020

The complex landscape of human emotions is still vastly uncharted, but every true work of art adds a little piece to the puzzle. This can be done in many ways, but it is rare that an album connects emotion with complex layers of memory, interpersonal relations, politics and societal structures. Nevertheless, this is what drummer and composer Jeremy Cunningham's album does. In a statement, Cunningham explains the background: “I wrote The Weather Up There to confront the ...

Album Review

Gil Scott-Heron / Makaya McCraven: We're New Again

Read "We're New Again" reviewed by Karl Ackermann

by Karl Ackermann
February 21, 2020

"All the dreams you show up in are not your own." With those words to an interviewer at The New Yorker, Gil Scott-Heron tried to explain a degree of detachment from I'm New Here (XL Recordings, 2011), his “comeback" and the final studio album before his death that year. The project was initiated by the head of XL and was the first album Scott-Heron released in the sixteen years he struggled with addiction and two drug-related terms in prison. The ...

Album Review

Ben LaMar Gay: Downtown Castles Can Never Block the Sun

Read "Downtown Castles Can Never Block the Sun" reviewed by Vincenzo Roggero

by Vincenzo Roggero
January 28, 2019

Clamoroso esordio discografico su International Anthem (etichetta evidentemente abbonata ai debutti con il botto, vedi Jaimie Branch l'anno passato) quello di Ben LaMar Gay. Multistrumentista, cantante, membro dell'AACM, da una ventina d'anni presenza trasversale tra hip-hop, avant jazz, indie rock, elettronica, musica brasiliana (risiede saltuariamente in Brasile), appassionato e specialista dell'overdubbing, decide di pubblicare come primo album da solista, una compilation. Anche se una compilation proprio normale non lo è. Le quindici tracce di Downtown Castles Can Never ...

Album Review

Ben LaMar Gay: Downtown Castles Can Never Block The Sun

Read "Downtown Castles Can Never Block The Sun" reviewed by Gareth Thompson

by Gareth Thompson
May 27, 2018

Within any given city you might hear birdsong and church bells competing with buskers, car horns and stereos. Within the realm of Ben LaMar Gay's debut album we run a similar gamut of sonic experience. A cornetist and composer from Chicago's South Side, Gay has worked with Jaimie Branch, Makaya McCraven and Joshua Abrams among others. Yet for reasons unknown, he has never made public some seven albums worth of his own recorded material. All that changes with the release ...