jimmy bennington / steve cohn
albany park
1. nepalese suite (cohn / bennington) 17:32
2. blue in green (davis) 7:22
3. cut down (cohn) ** 8:15
4. quiet now (zietlin) 5:17
5. a time when i can get back to you * (cohn) 9:15
recorded: april 27, 2013 as part of the colour and sound house concert series, chicago.
mastered at: george belle studios, june 13, 2017, chicago.
jimmy bennington- drums, arr.
steve cohn- piano, vocals, *shakuhachi
**a note about track #4:
'Cut Down' was written in the 90's for a large Dance Company in Japan. The theme was "Kaze" which means wind. But because of my involvement as the commissioned composer and my work on shakuhachi (Japanese Bamboo Flute),"Bamboo" also became a theme. Maybe it was the wind blowing through the bamboo Groves. This melody was reflective of the destruction of these Groves for deforestation. To bring forward the feeling of loss and the need to protect. (SC)
This Recording is Dedicated to Karina, with Special Thanks to our Hosts Chad and Celia Bergman
This concert
recording originated with the 2013 performance for the Colour and Sound House
series. Bennington studied with the masterful Elvin Jones, post-bop
drummer with the John Coltrane quartet from 1960 to 1966 and with whom he often
played protracted duos. Bennington moved on to his
ownavant musical ventures and won the accolade for Best Album of the Year
2014, ranked by Down Beat magazine.
"Once mentored by Elvin Jones, Chicago-based drummer Jimmy Bennington
celebrates over a quarter of a century in the music
field. Bennington's unique sound and loose drumming, which doesn't follow
traditional rhythmic patterns... leaves quite a bit of room to
freedom." (Down Beat Magazine)
Steve Cohn is also highly thought of in the avant-garde and for his extensive
knowledge of culture and history. He has played and/or recorded with
such artists as Fred Hopkins, Oliver Lake, William Parker, Sonny Simmons and
Reggie Workman.
The album is a close-knit dialogue between piano
and drums, studying new approaches to a variety of interests as broad as
Nepalese folk music, Japanese dance and theatre and classical American
jazz. This latter sees a new approach to the Miles Davis classic,
‘Blue in Green’, from the 1959 modal album Kind of Blue. Bennington
plays solo drums for about a minute before Cohn enters quietly with the
signature leitmotif. The track proceeds and as it reaches completion
the notion of modality seems to have been buried.
Throughout the concert, Bennington’s drumming seems to be a rejoinder to the squiggling
of the piano’s keys though each of them clearly demands as much from the other
as they themselves are prepared to give. It is exquisite.
Reviewed by Ken
Cheetham http://www.jazzviews.net/bennington-cohn-ndash-albany-park.html
Nothing in music is as communicative as duets.
Jimmy Bennington’s drums join with Steve Cohn’s piano, voice and Japanese flute on these impressionistic pieces. With voice, the two get expressive on the foreboding "Nepalese Suite" with, some digital dexterity by Cohn mixing with military drumming on an intriguing take of "Blue In Green." Denny Zeitlin’s "Quiet Now" as some intimate reflections while Cohn strides well and adds atmospheric flute on "A Time When I Get Back To You." Conversant and cohesive. George W Harris, http://www.jazzweekly.com 12 July 2018
I seem to remember that Delfayo Marsalis wrote the notes for Bennington’s first CD which was called Contemplation. He’s worked in duo formats before with David Haney, Julian Priester and others, this new release seems to come from under the umbrella of his Colour and Sound project, a title that sometimes seems to mean a group, at others a concert series.
It isn’t clear what is Nepalese about the opening track. It isn’t strictly a suite in that there is no overt dance element. It consists of Cohn playing very quietly and spaciously, with light rattles and vibrations from the kit. That undersells it, though. The whole sequence progresses with great logic and order, gradually elaborating on specific ideas, gathering energy very slowly and thoughtfully. Cut Down was written (by Cohn) for a dance company in Japan, reflecting his parallel work on the shakuhachi. The title refers to bamboo and the destruction of ancient groves. It’s an oddly moving piece, even as it maintains the record’s enigmatic profile.
As well as playing shakuhachi, Cohn also vocalises at points, which adds an air of ritual, and a certain sense that we might also want to see these performances, not because the sound production is out of the ordinary but because the chemistry between the players is both palpable and hard to pin down. The audience sounds small – I think it was a house concert – and quite restrained, which seems fitting. This isn’t club jazz. That notwithstanding, the two repertory piece are beautifully reimagined, the Zeitlin tune particularly, though it’s hard to make a sow’s ear out of Blue In Green, which is taken a long way past Bill Evans. Brian Morton, Jazz Journal, July 2018.
Nell’ambito del Color and Sound House Concert Series a Chicago è nata questa registrazione fra il batteristaJimmy Benningtoned il pianistaSteve Cohnche risale al 2013, masterizzata l’anno scorso e ora pubblicata. Il batterista a studiato a lungo con Elvin Jones di cui ne è stato anche il manager per i concerti in Europa a partire dall’anno 2000, poi ha ricominciato a suonare con progetti propri ottenendo anche il successo della critica per il miglior album del 2014 nella classifica di Down Beat, la famosa rivista americana. Anche il pianista è un musicista conosciuto nell’ambito dell’avanguardia e del mainstream, anche lui con una grande conoscenza della tradizione jazzistica. Il concerto, sui cinquanta minuti di durata, comincia con la lungaNepalese Suitein cui i due cercano un approccio alla musica folklorica di quel paese. È un dialogo serrato, come tutto il disco, in cui si cercano nuovi percorsi per il duo piano e batteria. A seguire un famoso standard di Miles Davis,Blue in Green, introdotto dalla batteria in solo di Bennington per un minuto, poi arriva il pianoforte ad eseguire delicatamente il tema. È un modo tutto speciale quello di ridarci questo famoso brano che diventa un’esecuzione dall’aspetto romantico in cui la batteria svolge un ruolo che porta un elemento di sopresa, nel corso dell’esecuzione resta ben poco delle atmosfere modali dell’originale e si va anche verso momenti più liberi e free.Cut Downè di Cohn ed è stato scritto negli anni ’90 per una compagnia di danza in Giappone. C’è molta libertà nell’esecuzione, che vuole evocare l’importanza delle foreste di bambù per l’ecosistema e la loro distruzione.Quiet Nowè di Denny Zeitlin, una ballad eseguita con molto feeling, tuttavia fuori dai canoni per come entrambi la eseguono. Chiude A Time When I Can Get Back to You, di Cohn, un brano che sta decisamente dalle parti dell’avanguardia in cui Cohn canticchia alla Keith Jarrett. Un disco insolito tratto da un concerto che vale la pena riascoltare.
Vittorio Lo Conte, http://www.musiczoom.it/?p=29073#.WsKO6Hrwbct
Google translate
In the context of the Color and Sound House Concert Series in Chicago this recording was born between the drummer Jimmy Bennington and the pianist Steve Cohn that dates back to 2013, mastered last year and now published. The drummer studied for a long time with Elvin Jones, who was also the manager for concerts in Europe since 2000, then he started playing with his own projects getting also the success of the critics for the best album of 2014 in the ranking of Down Beat, the famous American magazine. Even the pianist is a musician known in the avant-garde and the mainstream, also with a great knowledge of jazz tradition. The concert, about fifty minutes in length, begins with the long Nepalese Suite in which the two seek an approach to folk music of that country. It is a close dialogue, like the whole record, in which new paths are sought for the two-story piano and drums. Following a famous Miles Davis standard, Blue in Green, introduced by Bennington's solo battery for a minute, then the piano comes to gently perform the theme. It is a very special way to give us this famous piece that becomes an execution with a romantic aspect in which the drum plays a role that brings an element of surprise, during the execution little remains of the modal atmospheres of the original. it also goes towards more free and free moments. Cut Down is from Cohn and was written in the 1990s for a dance company in Japan. There is a lot of freedom in the execution, which wants to evoke the importance of bamboo forests for the ecosystem and their destruction. Quiet Now is by Denny Zeitlin, a ballad performed with a lot of feeling, but out of the rules for how they both perform it. Closes A Time When I Can Get Back to You, by Cohn, a song that is definitely from the avant-garde where Cohn hums to Keith Jarrett. An unusual record taken from a concert that is worth listening to again.