Home » Jazz Articles » Album Review » Yelena Eckemoff: Nocturnal Animals

Yelena Eckemoff: Nocturnal Animals

By Dan McClenaghan
January 1, 2020
View read count

"You're busy appearing or you're busy disappearing." Drummer-bandleader

Art Blakey

drums
1919 - 1990

" data-original-title="" title="">Art Blakey may have said that; if he didn't, he should have. Somebody had to express the importance of presenting your work, for getting it out there to an audience. This goes for virtually any artist in any medium. Double down on that for people who create jazz.

Pianist

Yelena Eckemoff

piano

" data-original-title="" title="">Yelena Eckemoff rolls with the "busy appearing" concept. She is prolific; since her debut recording , Cold Sun (L & H, 2010), she has released fourteen more albums, employing some of the finest sidemen the world of jazz has to offer: drummers

Peter Erskine

drums
b.1954

" data-original-title="" title="">Peter Erskine and

Manu Katche

drums
b.1958

" data-original-title="" title="">Manu Katche, bassists

Arild Andersen

bass, acoustic
b.1945

" data-original-title="" title="">Arild Andersen and

Mads Vinding

bass
b.1948

" data-original-title="" title="">Mads Vinding, saxophonist

Tore Brunborg

saxophone
b.1960

" data-original-title="" title="">Tore Brunborg and more. The names of her accomplices suggest an ECM Records aesthetic, accurately. Eckemoff pens complex tunes which reflect her classical training and, at the same time, seem to have a feeling of a folk music direction. In terms of recording studios, she is no stranger to Scandinavia—ECM Records' oft times stomping ground—Oslo's Rainbow Studios, and Petrex Studio in Finland, giving credence to the comparison to

Manfred Eicher

" data-original-title="" title="">Manfred Eicher's label.

Nocturnal Animals, another in a string of albums built around a thematic concept, is a double disc featuring bassist Arild Andersen once more, and two drummers who have often recorded under the ECM banner:

Jon Christensen

drums
1943 - 2020

" data-original-title="" title="">Jon Christensen and

Thomas Strønen

drums
b.1972

" data-original-title="" title="">Thomas Str?nen. The sound they create alongside Eckemoff is subtle, shimmering, translucently gorgeous, featuring Eckemoff displaying her most delicate touch. Bassist Andersen is typically muscular—the backbone of the band—while drummers Christensen and Stronen weave and counter-weave backdrops of diaphanous fabric—a tapestry of spider webs.

Theme wise, Eckemoff searches the souls of the animals of the night: "Lynx," "Owl," "Hedgehog," Grizzly Bear," "Wolf," "Rattlesnake." The album cover features one of her paintings, with a fox backlit to a surreal luminescence by a weak (perhaps mid-winter) setting sun. The included pamphlet features poems she wrote for each composition. She does create a complete and compelling work of art.

Yelena Ecemoff has come a long way from her native Moscow, which she left in 1991. Through her boundless ambition, determination and expansive talent, she has turned herself into a major jazz artist with a consistently outstanding discography which includes Lions (2014), Everblue (2014), Desert (2015)...and Nocturnal Animals, all on her own L & H Records label.

Learn more about our star rating system

Track Listing

Cicada; Bat; Walkingstick; Fox; Grizzly Bear; Rattlesnake; Wolf; Hedgehog; Toad; Lynx; Scorpion; Firefly; Owl; Sea Turtle.

Personnel

Yelena Eckemoff

piano

Arild Andersen

bass, acoustic

Jon Christensen

drums

Thomas Str?nen

drums

Yelena Eckemoff: piano; Arild Andersen: bass; Jon Christensen: drums, percussion: Thomas Str?nen: drums, percussion.

Album information

Title: Nocturnal Animals | Year Released: 2020 | Record Label: L&H Production

PREVIOUS / NEXT

A Throw Of Dice
< Previous

A Romantic Evening with Jackie Allen...
Next >

Support All About Jazz

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.