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Jazz Articles about Ben Monder
Ross McHenry: Waves
by Nenad Georgievski
One of the reasons jazz is so intriguing is its wide range of styles and unpredictability. It has always been tricky to define. It is a genre that is constantly evolving, picking up influences along the way, and adapting in ways that can blur the lines between styles. While the term jazz often suggests something hard to pin down, labels can provide a useful way to describe the key features of a particular release. Packed with unpredictable forms, formats, rhythms ...
Continue ReadingBen Monder, Joao Lencastre & Emile Parisien
by Maurice Hogue
The much-respected guitarist Ben Monder took ten years to painstakingly craft the music on his latest release Planetarium. It's Monder at his finest, filtering through various moods, technique and sonic surprises. There's new music from Europe as usual--the German trio Brom, French soprano sax wizard Emile Parisien and his quartet, and Portuguese drummer Joao Lencastre and friends cutting loose on some Ornette & Monk tunes. Drummer Ivanna Cuesta from the Dominican Republic has been noticed of late and her new ...
Continue ReadingMatt Pavolka: Disciplinary Architecture
by Glenn Astarita
Matt Pavolka, a seasoned bassist and composer, has carved a distinct niche in the New York jazz scene for over two decades. Initially focused on trombone (studying under the legendary David Baker), Pavolka's path took a sharp turn at Berklee College of Music. There, he switched to bass and blossomed as a composer, earning accolades for both performance and composition. His latest offering, Disciplinary Architecture, is a record brimming with ambition and a unique sonic atmosphere. The album ...
Continue ReadingBen Monder: Hydra
by Mike Jacobs
Stylistically hard-to-describe artists are nothing new. However, with Ben Monder's solo excursions, one often feels the need to issue a warning/disclaimer that might read something like, “Caution--Exiting Known Musical Universe." The 24-minute title track from his album Hydra (Sunnyside, 2013) indeed melds techniques and generic signposts from jazz, rock, medieval and modern classical music, but it may be the harmonic space that dominates Monder's vision that is most remarkable--a mysterious zone the eschews nearly all familiar harmony without wallowing in ...
Continue ReadingJeremy Udden: Wishing Flower
by Angelo Leonardi
Jeremy Udden è un sassofonista e compositore dallo stile impressionista, che predilige atmosfere intime di sapore folk, in temi melodicamente lenti e descrittivi. Come spiega nelle note del disco, le sue composizioni sono ispirate al suo vissuto biografico di giovane nato e cresciuto nel contesto rurale del Massachusetts ed entrato poi nella dimensione urbana. Residente da anni a Brooklyn, Udden osserva la gioia della figlia nei percorsi casa-scuola, quand'è attratta dalla bellezza dei fiori che nascono spontaneamente nei giardini o ...
Continue ReadingSunny Kim, Vardan Ovsepian, Ben Monder: Liminal Silence
by Alberto Bazzurro
Un felice cocktail acustico/elettr(on)ico con sostanziosa e significativa presenza vocale (quindi triplice) è quanto ci giunge da questo album, inciso nella primavera 2023 da una cantante coreana trapiantata in Australia, un pianista estone e un chitarrista statunitense (il più noto dei tre). Un ventaglio geografico così composito, evidentemente, non poteva non dar vita a un progetto altrettanto composito, per quanto, come si diceva, assolutamente coeso nei percorsi e negli esiti. Nella vocalità di Sunny Kim c'è addirittura ...
Continue ReadingGeorge Winstone: Odysseus
by Neil Duggan
Surprisingly, George Winstone's album Odysseus has no connection with Greek Mythology, the Trojan War or Homer's epic poem. For Winstone, the title just seemed to fit. Indeed, it does seem apt; the soundscapes and moods that Winstone, together with guitarist Ben Monder, create would be suitable for the arc of many a journey narrative. London-born saxophonist Winstone released his first EP in 2018. The following year, to move his career forward, he relocated to New York City. Monder ...
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