Benjamin Lackner: Spindrift

Benjamin Lackner has a vision and his album is a coherent statement of his ideas: a radical statement of lyricism, gentleness, restraint and understatement.

It was a long-time dream. For some time, Benjamin Lackner has had a wish to record with ECM. In an interview, he outlined his attempts to produce music that would impress ECM's Manfred Eicher. Benny Lackner became Benjamin. He experimented with different formats, eventually achieving his ambition with Last Decade (2022), his first album with ECM. The only survivor from that band who carries over to his second ECM album, Spindrift, is Mathias Eick, the soft-toned lyrical mellifluous trumpet player. A strong indication of Lackner's direction is the inclusion of saxophonist Mark Turner who sounds as though he has taken early inspiration from Warne Marsh to enable him to develop an expansive and lissome style. He recruited Linda May Han Oh on double bass who has recorded for ECM with Vijay Iyer and whose bass playing is feather-light, subtle, musical, felt rather than heard. Matthieu Chazarenc, who seems to follow Lackner's belief that when drums are played quietly, they are the foundation of everything, is here also. This small group with its concatenation of tones, ideas and moods has enabled Lackner to achieve a painterly consistency of surface that reflects his overall vision.

The playing of Turner on "Spindrift" has a quiet meditative beauty underlined by the spare accompaniment from Lackner and Chazarenc. The writing of "Mosquito Flats" has spareness and adroitness that is mesmerizing. The interplay between Turner and Eick compels attention, their lines moving between closeness and separation yet always tied with a similar thought. Their similar tones weave a spell.

"More Mesa" belongs to Lackner. The pianist explores the spaciousness of the writing paced by the bass before Turner and Eick duet over the piano arpeggios and drumming becomes more intense. "Chambery" written by Chazarenc has a playful quality and has an almost fugal interval between Eick and Turner.

"See You Again My Friend" has a clear yearning melody that inspires Eick to soar above the melody as both the tenor and trumpet intertwine, with the separate instrument becoming almost a single voice. The unhurried duo, pacing tentatively through "Out Of The Fog," is a slow, impressionistic meander.

The brevity of the tracks means that the elegant melodic ideas are not stretched beyond their limits and consequently have a satisfying wholeness. Lackner invests a great deal in Turner and Eick, their compatibility is at the heart of the music.

The pleasure—and it is considerable—that can be gained from this music emanates from Lackner's writing as it explores the inherent lyricism of Turner and Eick with their complementary approaches. The writing softens the gap between the written notes and the improvisation so that it is often difficult to ascertain where one shades into the other. The solos rise completely naturally out of the writing. There is a shared vision of restrained music, rising and flowing with fluent grace. This is a jazz equivalent of chamber music.

Lackner with a pointed metaphor said recently: "We work by holding back, kind of like cooking on a lower flame."

The recording at La Buissonne Studios at Pernes les Fontaines has the stillness, depth and clarity that this music needs.