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Benny Lackner Trio: Siskiyou
by Dan McClenaghan
The photo on the main page of Benny Lackner's website shows the pianist with one hand on an acoustic piano, the other plying the keys of a laptop computer. That's where his muse has taken him-into a very contemporary electro/acoustic piano trio mix with drummer Matthieu Chazarec and bassist Jerome Regard. Siskiyou is Lackner's fifth trio outing, and his second with this particular line-up, after 2012's Cachuma (BMH Productions). It is his best and most focused outing. The ...
Continue ReadingBenny Lackner Trio: Cachuma
by Dan McClenaghan
Pianist Benny Lackner can do whatever he wants, and says as much with “I Can Do Whatever I Want," the opener on his forward-leaning Cachuma. This piano trio outing suggests he wants to nudge the trio setting into a modern groove while giving voice to his own artistic vision.Modernization of the tried and true piano trio format is an ongoing process. e.s.t., led by the late Swedish pianist Esbjörn Svensson, incorporated electronics with great success, while John Medeski ...
Continue ReadingBernard - Emer - Lackner - Ferber: Night for Day
by AAJ Italy Staff
Night for Day è un buon esempio dell’equivoco, più o meno volontario, nel quale navigano molti musicisti delle nuove generazioni. Preparazione ferrea alle spalle, grande confidenza con i più disparati stili musicali, estrema scioltezza nel condividere l’esperienza musicale con colleghi dal diverso background formativo. Ma poi, alla resa dei conti, permane l’incertezza sulla direzione da prendere, sulla capacità di elaborare un linguaggio personale che faccia tesoro della massa di sollecitazioni e di input esterni, evitando operazioni di copia-incolla o di ...
Continue ReadingBenny Lackner Trio: Pilgrim
by Michael J. West
The rock-ish but very adult Pilgrim is a cautionary example of why detail is important in jazz. On a cursory listen, the Benny Lackner Trio sounds like a Bad Plus imitator: the rock influence is heavy, pianist Lackner shares Ethan Iverson's harmonic trajectory and heavy touch, and drummer Robert Perkins' sound is superficially like Dave King's bash-and-crash. What's more, the fifth track is titled “Brad Plus," a dead giveaway if ever there was one. That first impression is illusory. Deeper ...
Continue ReadingBenny Lackner Trio: Pilgrim
by Dan McClenaghan
The Benny Lackner Trio calls itself a “collective," with each member “interjecting equally toward the construction of the material." This sef-description was certainly true of the group's previous outing, Sign of the Times (Nagel Heyer, 2006). It's an even more accurate characterization of the group's approach on Pilgrim.The “collective" is a piano trio, with some subtle electronics added--Wurlitzer and Nord lead 2--along with a dash of electro-percussion. When you talk piano trio and equality of each member's input, ...
Continue ReadingBenny Lackner Trio: Sign of the Times
by AAJ Italy Staff
Rivisitare o re-interpretare pop song di successo in chiave jazz più o meno spregiudicata, sembra essere diventato un filone d’oro da seguire e da sfruttare. Così diverse, nuove realtà musicali tentano di emulare i fasti di formazioni blasonate come gli statunitensi Bad Plus o i nordici E.S.T., precursori riconosciuti di questa tendenza musicale. Il Benny Lackner Trio, qui alla sua seconda prova discografica dopo l’apprezzato debutto di Not the Same, non possiede né la dirompente forza d’urto della formazione di ...
Continue ReadingBenny Lackner: Evolving the Piano Trio Tradition
by Joao Moreira dos Santos
At 29, pianist Benny Lackner has just released Sign of the Times, his second album for the prestigious Nagel Heyer label, touring Europe and paving way for his dream--playing at the Village Vanguard in NYC and the main jazz festivals around the world. I caught up with him at the Hot Club de Portugal, in Lisbon, one of the oldest jazz clubs in the world, whose stage has hosted musicians from Bill Coleman and Dexter Gordon to Mark ...
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