Apr 2, 2024 12:59 PM
Saxophonist, Sonic Explorer Casey Benjamin Dies at 45
Casey Benjamin, the alto saxophonist, vocalist, keyboardist and producer who stamped his distinctive sounds on the…
New, impactful live recordings of the late pianist Bill Evans continue to emerge on vinyl.
(Photo: Elemental Music)Bill Evans’ discography is immense, beginning with his first recordings as a sideman in 1953 and running through hundreds of titles up until his death in 1980. Even now, 41 years later, new, impactful recordings of the legendary pianist continue to emerge on vinyl.
For the first of two Record Store Day drops on June 12 (the second is on July 17), Elemental Music is releasing Behind The Dikes: The 1969 Netherlands Recordings as a three-LP set, mastered at 33⅓ RPM by Bernie Grundman and pressed at Standard Vinyl in Toronto. The album’s title is borrowed from Dutch producer Michiel de Ruyter’s LP series Jazz Behind The Dikes on Philips in the 1950s. De Ruyter served as an original co-producer on these Evans recordings. He is backed here by Eddie Gomez on bass and Marty Morell on drums.
The liner notes to Behind The Dikes highlight that newspaper De Tijd reviewed the 1969 performances enthusiastically: “This is undoubtedly the best combo the 40-year-old master pianist has ever had at his disposal. The three complement each other so beautifully that a remarkably natural musicality emerges, in which the most beautiful things happen.”
This is bourne out by a listen to the discs. The trio can take a standard like “’Round Midnight” and essay it effortlessly, then turn in a lively take on more lighthearted material like “A Sleeping Bee.”
On June 25, Craft Recordings releases another live LP from Evans, a two-LP set titled On A Friday Evening, a newly discovered live performance by Evans featuring Gómez on bass and Eliot Zigmund on drums. The release captures the entire performance.
The previously unreleased concert took place on June 20, 1975, at Oil Can Harry’s, a club that operated until 1977 in Vancouver, British Columbia. The show was captured for Canadian radio host Gary Barclay, who served as the evening’s announcer and later aired the set on his CHQM jazz show. The tapes were restored by Plangent Processes and mastered by Paul Blakemore. Running for just over an hour, the music here is at times quiet and intimate, at others expressive and fresh.
Craft doesn’t stop there with Evans, though. The same day, it’s releasing a five-CD box set exploring the pianist’s entire career called Everybody Still Digs Bill Evans. DB
Benjamin possessed a fluid, round sound on the alto saxophone, and he was often most recognizable by the layers of electronic effects that he put onto the instrument.
Apr 2, 2024 12:59 PM
Casey Benjamin, the alto saxophonist, vocalist, keyboardist and producer who stamped his distinctive sounds on the…
“He’s constructing intelligent musical sentences that connect seamlessly, which is the most important part of linear playing,” Charles McPherson said of alto saxophonist Sonny Red.
Feb 27, 2024 1:40 PM
“I might not have felt this way 30 to 40 years ago, but I’ve reached a point where I can hear value in what people…
Albert “Tootie” Heath (1935–2024) followed in the tradition of drummer Kenny Clarke, his idol.
Apr 5, 2024 10:28 AM
Albert “Tootie” Heath, a drummer of impeccable taste and time who was the youngest of three jazz-legend brothers…
“Both of us are quite grounded in the craft, the tradition and the harmonic sense,” Rosenwinkel said of his experience playing with Allen. “Yet I felt we shared something mystical as well.”
Mar 12, 2024 11:42 AM
“There are a few musicians you hear where, as somebody once said, the molecules in the room change. Geri was one of…
Henry Threadgill performs with Zooid at Big Ears in Knoxville, Tennessee.
Apr 9, 2024 11:30 AM
Big Ears, the annual four-day music celebration that first took place in 2009 in Knoxville, Tennessee, could well be…
