Articles

Gregg Bendian

By Bill Milkowski

Since the early '90s, drummer Gregg Bendian has distinguished himself as an adventurous and accomplished player-composer through his sideman work with the likes of Derek Bailey, Cecil Taylor, Ornette Coleman, John Zorn, Peter Brotzmann and Pat Metheny while also leading his own Interzone Quartet and Trio Pianissimo. His most recent recording is the startlingly virtuosic solo drum project Research, on his own Aggregate Music label. But Bendian's most passionate undertaking in recent years has been his Mahavishnu Project (MP), the ...

Gregg Bendian: Research

By John Kelman

All-percussion ensemble albums are rare in any genre. Still, by digging deep, it's possible to find exceptional discs like Swiss percussionist Pierre Favre's Singing Drums (ECM, 1984) and, more recently, The New Percussion Group of Amsterdam's Go Between (Summerfold, 2007), proving that percussion needn't be just about the rhythm.

Solo percussion albums are even less common. The chameleon-like Gregg Bendian--who can just as easily be found performing left-of-center form and function with his Interzone group as propelling his Mahavishnu Project ...

Gregg Bendian: Inner Flame, Musical Visions

By Ian Patterson

“Being an American musician means being adventurous. The whole path of American music has been so much about the recognition of stylistic diversity, and the recognition of the importance of music which was from one of the vernacular traditions. You know, music which at one time was considered primitive, uncultured, savage, whatever it may have been...dangerous above all...and recognizing that in this music, lots was being said. Perhaps some of the most important, cutting edge things were being said." (Michael ...

Gregg Bendian's Trio Pianissimo: Change

By John Kelman

Building on the deep interaction of Balance--originally released in 1998 but recently reissued by TrueMedia JazzWorks--Change finds Trio Pianissimo continuing to explore, evolve, and integrate percussionist/composer Gregg Bendian's diverse musical interests. While the piano trio represents Bendian's most intimate setting to date, that doesn't mean that Change operates in conventional terms. It is, in fact, a bold, in-your-face recording that even better meshes disparate elements including free jazz, contemporary classical through-composition, and even a little progressive rock.

Still, that's not ...

Bendian, Gauthier, Liebig, Stinson: Bone Structure

By Walter Kolosky

Bone Structure is something different: post-jazz fusion-progressive rock-electronica-jam band music that features a wily sinister vibe. Some of the infectious grooves are reminiscent of those laid down by Ginger Baker and Jonas Hellborg on Baker's very fine and underrated Unseen Rain from several years back. Other influences can be heard as well. From time to time guitarist G.E. Stinson sounds remarkably like John McLaughlin from Miles Davis' Live Evil. There are also allusions to works such as Weather Report's “Mr. ...

Gregg Bendian's Interzone: Requiem for Jack Kirby

By Todd S. Jenkins