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…
Brian Landrus’ latest album pairs his proclivity for music with his love of animals.
(Photo: Nick Carter)Brian Landrus can remember the exact moment he stopped eating animals. It was during lunch in the sixth grade, and after grabbing a hamburger from the cafeteria, he took out from his bag a pamphlet from PETA that his parents had left around the house. Having already sworn off pork due to a childhood affection for pigs (despite his love for the taste of bacon), the rather graphic photos on that pamphlet of what truly went on inside slaughterhouses further confirmed his empathy for all living creatures. “I said to my friends, I’m never going to eat meat again,” Landrus remembered, speaking over video from his Brooklyn home. “They all laughed, and I laughed, too, but something just clicked, and I never did again.”
Landrus is known for his exceptional low-woodwind playing — he’s been a mainstay in the DownBeat Critics Poll since 2015 on baritone saxophone and bass clarinet — and for composing and arranging. He will enter the fall as a full-time professor of jazz composition at Berklee College of Music. Yet he has felt a calling to do something that was, in his words, “more important than blowing air through a tube.”
He doesn’t regret going into music, but Landrus once considered becoming a veterinarian, or even environmental activism. “I’m not sure how [that] would have gone, because I probably would have been aggressive,” he said, cryptically.
In a discussion with a representative for Save the Elephants, a U.K.-registered charity based in Kenya, he learned more about the war between illegal poachers and activists, dubbed “hunter-hunters” for their extreme, sometimes violent tactics. He explained soberly, “I don’t think I would be around, is what I’m trying to say. I think I would have gone out in a blaze of fire … .”
Refocusing his conflagrant ardor to music was perhaps a better career choice. For his 11th album, Landus pairs his proclivity for music with his love of animals, resulting in The Red List (Palmetto), a collection of 15 original pieces dedicated to the most endangered animals on Earth.
The Red List was established in 1964 by the International Union for the Conservation of Nature (IUCN), a regularly updated accounting for an ever-increasing number of endangered animal, plant and fungus species.
To date, more than 142,000 species are on the Red List, with 40,000 of those brought to the brink of extinction. “I was blown away by the number of animals that have gone extinct, and the amount of creatures going extinct, that are on the verge, that I had never even heard of,” Landrus lamented. He mentioned the plight of the Vaquita. the world’s smallest porpoise; its population currently stands at eight. “The more I learned,” he said, “the more passion I had in trying to do something to bring awareness.”
Landrus reached out to many environmental organizations before finding a partner in Save the Elephants. He started an online campaign to finance the project, donating 20% of the proceeds and 100% of any profits to the organization.
He then put his band together, drawing upon long-time collaborators such as guitarist Nir Felder, bassist Lonnie Plaxico and drummer Rudy Royston. He added some other friends, old and new, to the mix: trombonist Ryan Keberle, saxophonists Ron Blake and Jaleel Shaw, trumpeter Steve Roach, vocalist Corey King, keyboardist Geoffrey Keezer and percussionist John Hadfield. Landrus waited until the both the band and the studio dates were confirmed before sitting down to write the music, which came together quickly, in a span of about 10 days.
His discography is as diverse as the world ecology he strives to save, ranging from saxophone trio to full jazz orchestra with strings. With this band and for this cause, he followed more of a contemporary jazz playbook, a cross-pollination along the genetic lines of Weather Report, Pat Metheny Group and Steely Dan, acknowledging an intention to make the music more universally accessible for the sake of the message.
The results are energetic, catchy and colorful. Landrus attempted to capture the essence of each animal with a musical analogy. On “Canopy Of Trees,” the intervals of thirds reflect the calls of orangutans. He explained, “I watched a lot of videos to hear their interactions. I kept listening to these different calls from different animals, same species, and they were all using major thirds. They were pitched differently — a different starting point, whether they were going down or up, and that was fascinating to me.”
Landrus stressed the significance of the project to his band before and during the recording, having sent out information on the animals they were honoring. The players responded with unified urgency. “The session felt more meaningful than anything I had ever done. There was an intensity and a camaraderie that I think [is] very rare, in my experience of session work,” he said.
Save the Elephants will be using Landrus’ music in its own outreach and awareness projects. He plans to go to Africa next year to meet the people on the front lines for the group.
“I would love to do some concerts out there, and we’ve talked about that,” he said. “They’re doing a lot more important work on the ground than I can do. I’m happy to raise funds for them and do as much as I can, but they’re literally putting their lives on the line with poachers.”
Yet, Landrus has found new meaning from putting his talents in service for a larger cause. “If I could do anything to help get the word out and make something positive happen from this, then that would be the best reason for,” he paused, “living.” DB
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