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About Bennie Maupin
Bennie Maupin: The Jewel in the Lotus
by AAJ Italy Staff
Non mi stupirebbe che, in una delle tante trasmissioni televisive che si occupano di misteri, proponessero un servizio sul perché The Jewel in the Lotus di Bennie Maupin sia rimasto per così tanto tempo privato dell'onore della ristampa in CD. Artista appartenente alla scena di Detroit, Maupin ha attraversato in modo poco appariscente, ma in realtà intenso, le vicende del jazz contemporaneo a partire dalla seconda metà degli anni Sessanta, comparendo a fianco di Marion Brown, McCoy Tyner, Lee Morgan, ...
Continue ReadingBennie Maupin: The Jewel in the Lotus
by John Kelman
Of the ECM titles that have remained unavailable on CD, woodwind multi-instrumentalist Bennie Maupin's The Jewel in the Lotus (1974) has long been considered a holy grail for collectors in search of a vinyl copy, and a title that's been on many fans' wish lists for release on CD. Well, it's finally happened and it's been worth the wait. Those familiar will recognize it as still classic thirty years on; for those unfamiliar with its magic, it's time to get ...
Continue ReadingBennie Maupin: Penumbra
by Matthew Miller
One of the true challenges faced by the creative artist is the need to evolve over the course of a career, to respect the past while staring unflinchingly toward the future. This is especially true of improvising musicians, who do this while inextricably in the moment, creating structure from chaos, revealing the future in the blinding light of the present. Multi-instrumentalist Bennie Maupin takes on this challenge with Penumbra, a release that marks him as one of the true visionaries ...
Continue ReadingBennie Maupin
by A. Henkin
In AllAboutJazz-New York's Best of 2006 spread, three of the four Best Album lists included Bennie Maupin's Penumbra. The disc was his first since 1998's Driving While Black (Intuition), an album few in the jazz world really knew. A listener would have to go back to the '70s when Maupin released a couple of funk albums for Mercury or perhaps even earlier to his 1974 ECM debut The Jewel in the Lotus to find Maupin the leader, the composer, given ...
Continue ReadingThe Bennie Maupin Ensemble: Penumbra
by AAJ Italy Staff
Sassofonista chiave nella svolta elettrica di Miles Davis prima (Bitches Brew) e di Herbie Hancock poi (Mwhandishi Band e Headhunters) Bennie Maupin non ha mai ricevuto nella ormai lunga carriera i riconoscimenti che la sua statura di multistrumentista e compositore avrebbe meritato. Con questo Penumbra, Maupin conferma una raggiunta classicità nel ruolo di outsider nel panorama jazzistico internazionale, organizzando un ensemble assolutamente acustico nel quale si cimenta felicemente con cinque strumenti e mette in mostra le sue ottime qualità di ...
Continue ReadingBennie Maupin: Miles Beyond
by Rex Butters
For forty years, Bennie Maupin has played with the giants of jazz, starting with Roy Haynes, Horace Silver, Lee Morgan, McCoy Tyner, and Marion Brown. A call from Miles Davis put Maupin in the line up that recorded his most earth shaking albums including Bitches Brew (Columbia/Legacy, 1969), Big Fun (Columbia/Legacy, 1974) and On the Corner (Columbia/Legacy, 1972). His instantly recognizable bass clarinet prowled the lower clef like a barracuda. After working with several Herbie Hancock projects, including ...
Continue ReadingVarious Artists: Baritone Guitars & Bass Clarinets
by Mark F. Turner
The Bennie Maupin Ensemble Penumbra Cryptogramophone 2006
Bennie Maupin has been standing in the shadows, enhancing the music of such high-profilers as Miles Davis, Andrew Hill and Herbie Hancock, during much of his career. Not before time, he steps up to the mic with Penumbra, leading a trio-plus-percussion ensemble and himself switching between reeds and flute. His supple and commanding playing reflects his deep musical knowledge, and his band, with whom he's been touring ...
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