Home » Jazz Articles » Album Review » Adam Berenson: Homages and Worlds

14

Adam Berenson: Homages and Worlds

By

View read count
Adam Berenson: Homages and Worlds
Adam Berenson's Assemblages (Dream Play Records, 2021), a trio outing with bassist Scott Barnum and drummer Bob Moses, was the pianist/composer's return to an acoustic piano trio setting. But Berenson is a restless pioneer who plants a flag and moves on to new territory. Never far from his collection of electronics and synthesizers, he found a commanding tool for expression in his Sequential Prophet XL, a powerful seventy-six key sampler/synthesizer. On Homages and Worlds, Berenson pays tribute to a wide array of influences.

On this solo album, Berenson employs a half and dozen synthesizers and workstations that, in combination, and with overdubs, generate an inimitable voice. Opening with the classically influenced "A Spectral Field in the Early Evening (Homage to Eberhard Weber and Lyle Mays)" Berenson orchestrates a lush, but forsaken soundscape. There is little about the chosen instruments that would suggest circuits and signals at the heart of the music. "Napoleon's Return from Egypt" has a more electronic feel but is nuanced. Carla Bley's "Vashkar," also recorded by Berenson's mentor Paul Bley, is beautifully interpreted in this eleven-minute rendition. Berenson explains that he was fascinated by a Prophet XL piano sample patch called "Fractal Piano" and saw fit to use it for the Bley piece.

While some of these pieces blur the line between acoustic and electronic aesthetics, there are several that fall solidly into the latter category. "Deus ex machina (a cautionary tale) homage to Brian Eno" and "Prince Rupert's Lament: Robert Fripp & Peter Sinfield (homage to King Crimson)" are more tech-heavy, the source of the sounds less distinct. This is heard, in particular, on "The Dimension of Truth" and "The fabric of our society (homage to Genesis)" where the latter captures the ambiance of that group's important art-rock era.

Homages and Worlds brings together Berenson's varied influences, perhaps more than any of his previous recordings. It is often genre-less, as is appropriate for an artist that has not been beholding to a category. For listeners of a similar mindset, this is a thoroughly enjoyable collection.

Track Listing

A spectral field in the early evening (homage to Eberhard Weber and Lyle Mays); Napoleon's return from Egypt; Registration of births, deaths, and marriages; Vashkar homage to Carla and Paul Bley; Deus ex machina (a cautionary tale) homage to Brian Eno; An Empty Signifier (Identity Crisis); National Security Action Memorandum; Temporary Insanity (to know her is to hate her); The Dimension of Truth; The fabric of our society (homage to Genesis); Deus Absconditus; Prince Rupert's Lament: Robert Fripp & Peter Sinfield (homage to King Crimson).

Personnel

Adam Berenson
synthesizer
Additional Instrumentation

Adam Berenson: Sequential Prophet XL, Sequential Prophet Rev2, Sequential Pro 3, Korg Triton Extreme, Moog Subsequent 37, Roland SH-101

Album information

Title: Homages and Worlds | Year Released: 2022 | Record Label: Dream Play Records

Tags

Comments


PREVIOUS / NEXT




Support All About Jazz

Get the Jazz Near You newsletter All About Jazz has been a pillar of jazz since 1995, championing it as an art form and, more importantly, supporting the musicians who make it. Our enduring commitment has made "AAJ" one of the most culturally important websites of its kind, read by hundreds of thousands of fans, musicians and industry figures every month.

Go Ad Free!

To maintain our platform while developing new means to foster jazz discovery and connectivity, we need your help. You can become a sustaining member for as little as $20 and in return, we'll immediately hide those pesky ads plus provide access to future articles for a full year. This winning combination vastly improves your AAJ experience and allow us to vigorously build on the pioneering work we first started in 1995. So enjoy an ad-free AAJ experience and help us remain a positive beacon for jazz by making a donation today.

More

Tramonto
John Taylor
Ki
Natsuki Tamura / Satoko Fujii
Duality Pt: 02
Dom Franks' Strayhorn
The Sound of Raspberry
Tatsuya Yoshida / Martín Escalante

Popular

Old Home/New Home
The Brian Martin Big Band
My Ideal
Sam Dillon
Ecliptic
Shifa شفاء - Rachel Musson, Pat Thomas, Mark Sanders
Lado B Brazilian Project 2
Catina DeLuna & Otmaro Ruíz

Get more of a good thing!

Our weekly newsletter highlights our top stories, our special offers, and upcoming jazz events near you.

Install All About Jazz

iOS Instructions:

To install this app, follow these steps:

All About Jazz would like to send you notifications

Notifications include timely alerts to content of interest, such as articles, reviews, new features, and more. These can be configured in Settings.