Jazz Articles about Michel Benita

About Michel Benita

Album Review

Adam Baldwych European Quartet: Endless

by Neil Duggan
October 4, 2026

Endless was recorded live at the Krzysztof Penderecki European Centre for Music in Lusławice, one of Poland's major concert venues. There was no audience; instead, the auditorium provided the ideal acoustic environment for violin master Adam Bałdych and the members of his European Quartet: Italian bandoneon player Daniele di Bonaventura, Swedish pianist Jacob Karlzon and Algerian bassist Michel Benita. Despite the scale of the auditorium, the recording is sensitive and intimate, even fragile at times, as the musicians are ...

Album Review

Andy Sheppard: Salt Catchers

Read "Salt Catchers" reviewed by Jack Kenny

by Jack Kenny
September 28, 2026

Andy Sheppard was not always heading for ECM. In 1990, he formed his first big band, the Soft on the Inside Band, for an album of the same name. Soft on the Inside (Island Records, 1990) was rumbustious and expansive, featuring many notable players, including drummer Han Bennink, trumpeter Claude Deppa and trombonist Gary Valente. Then came his thirty-year association with Carla Bley. Their work was eventually honed down to a trio with bassist Steve Swallow, yielding a ...

Album Review

Andy Sheppard: Salt Catchers

Read "Salt Catchers" reviewed by Neil Duggan

by Neil Duggan
September 10, 2026

Since discovering John Coltrane as a teenager, tenor and soprano saxophonist Andy Sheppard has forged a remarkable career, earning multiple British Jazz Awards, international acclaim and even a place in the UK pop charts. His musical range is equally impressive: alongside jazz giants George Russell, Gil Evans and Carla Bley, he has worked with artists as diverse as Baaba Maal, Runrig and John Martyn. Equally at home in a big band, solo setting or small group, Sheppard now ...

Album Review

Michel Benita: Looking At Sounds

Read "Looking At Sounds" reviewed by Friedrich Kunzmann

by Friedrich Kunzmann
May 22, 2021

Michel Benita's leader-debut with his Ethics band for ECM, 2016's River Silver, came as a welcome addition to his oeuvre and the label's catalogue, following the French bassist's earlier characteristic contributions in saxophonist Andy Sheppard's Trio Libero on Trio Libero (ECM, 2012) and Surrounded By Sea (ECM, 2015). As on the first Ethics album, 2010's self-titled effort released on OutNote, on River Silver Benita unified an international pool of musicians, with Norwegian guitar-scape designer Eivind Aarset washing atmospheric clouds over ...

Album Review

Lawrence Sieberth Quartet: An Evening In Paris

Read "An Evening In Paris" reviewed by Dan McClenaghan

by Dan McClenaghan
September 14, 2020

New Orleans-based pianist Lawrence Sieberth is a versatile music man--a bandleader, keyboard accompanist, composer, producer. A trip to Paris and a teaming with Parisian players resulted in An Evening In Paris, an atmospherically cohesive set that covers a wide range of styles. The set of eight Sieberth originals opens with “August," a tune that exudes the loveliest of straight ahead moods--deceptively, perhaps. There is a gentleness and delicacy to the sound initially, saxophonist Stephane Guillaume blowing cool, in ...

Album Review

Michel Benita Ethics: River Silver

Read "River Silver" reviewed by Angelo Leonardi

by Angelo Leonardi
March 21, 2016

A sei anni dal magnifico esordio, passato inosservato fuori dalla Francia (Ethics, Zig-Zag Territoires 2010), il quintetto di Michel Benita arriva al primo disco per la ECM, trovando finalmente una platea internazionale e numerosi estimatori. La musica e i protagonisti della formazione sono uno splendido esempio di quello che Giorgio Gaslini chiamava “Musica Totale." Strumentisti di differenti nazioni si confrontano in un dialogo che congiunge le dimensioni del tempo e dello spazio: passato e presente, Est/Ovest e Nord/Sud del mondo ...

Interview

Michel Benita: "sono proprio un figlio degli anni '60/'70"

by Paolo Peviani
March 21, 2016

All About Jazz: Dopo due album come sideman, al fianco di Andy Sheppard, il tuo primo album da leader con l'ECM. Com'è andata? Michel Benita: La prima registrazione con Andy Sheppard, Trio Libero, mi ha in effetti offerto l'occasione di incontrare Manfred Eicher. La comunicazione con lui è stata subito facile. Aveva già ascoltato il primo disco di Ethics e l'aveva visibilmente apprezzato. Quando ha sentito che stavamo per registrare un nuovo album, mi ha proposto di farlo ...