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About Ben Monder
Maria Schneider Orchestra: Data Lords
by Karl Ackermann
The skillfully designed cover art tells part of the story; a leaf--half as nature intended--the remainder, a circuit board doppelganger. The pastoral soundscapes associated with the music of Grammy-winning composer/bandleader Maria Schneider belie her activist alter-ego. An outspoken critic of copyright protections, prejudicial revenue schemes and the abuses of “big data," Schneider has authored op-eds and testified before the US Congress. She ventures onto unfamiliar terrain, coalescing her passions on a masterwork double album, Data Lords. The two ...
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Ben Monder: Day After Day
by Claudio Bonomi
Ben Monder, classe 1962, chitarrista attivo da oltre 30 anni nell'area di New York, confeziona un doppio cd di sole covers che conquista al primo ascolto. Il primo album è suonato da Monder in completa solitudine alternando composizioni di ogni genere, da “Dreamsville" di Henry Mancini a “O Sacrum Convivium" di Olivier Messiaen, da “The Windows of The World di Burt Bacharach" a “The Midnight Sun Will Never Set" di Quincy Jones. Nel secondo è accompagna da Matt ...
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by Mark Corroto
On Day After Day, Ben Monder explores memories triggered by songs. Over two discs, one solo and the other with bassist Matt Brewer and drummer Ted Poor, the guitarist rouses impressions formed long ago. Just like a certain fragrance can spark the memory of an old lover, songs deep in your brain's hard drive can be recovered. Miles Davis and Sonny Rollins were masters at this, but covering Rodgers and Hammerstein's “The Surrey with the Fringe on Top" from the ...
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by Peter J. Hoetjes
Rare is the musician who remains static throughout their career, and with his professional life dating back to the mid-1990s, Ben Monder has had time enough to change course when the desire strikes. Since his outstanding debut, Flux (Songlines, 1995), he has released a handful of equally impressive albums which follow in its footsteps, as well as infrequent collaborations with vocalist Theo Bleckman. He was also selected to play guitar on David Bowie's final album. Having wanted for years to ...
Continue ReadingYelena Eckemoff: Better Than Gold and Silver
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 attempting these jazz arrangements. The first disc in this double disc set presents settings with two vocalists, tenor Tomás Cruz and mezzo-soprano Kim Mayo, accompanied by a remarkable band: trumpeter Ralph Alessi, guitarist Ben Monder, violinist Christian Howes, bassist Drew ...
Continue ReadingYelena Eckemoff: Better Than Gold and Silver
by Tyran Grillo
Some albums attempt to explain sacred text. Others adorn, elevate, or dramatize it. Better Than Gold and Silver does something rarer. It listens. It waits. It receives. Yelena Eckemoff does not set the Psalms of David to music so much as she attends to them, as though all that remains is to hear what still trembles in their wake. The result is not doctrine rendered audible, but scripture softened by silence, memory, and breath. Belief here is not asserted. It ...
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Ben Monder: Amorphae
by Mario Calvitti
Ben Monder è un chitarrista difficile da catalogare, per via di uno stile che concede poco o nulla alla tradizione, e una ricerca su suoni e timbri che, pur se talvolta lo avvicina a Bill Frisell, è portata avanti in una maniera personale e originale che lo distingue da altri sperimentatori come David Torn. Il suo primo lavoro da titolare per la ECM è il secondo per l'etichetta bavarese, avendo collaborato nel 2004 a Garden of Eden come membro della ...
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