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Randal Despommier, Ben Monder – A Midsummer Odyssey: The Music of Lars Gullin (2022)
FLAC (tracks) 24 bit/96 kHz | Time – 34:04 minutes | 569 MB | Genre: Jazz
Studio Masters, Official Digital Download | Front Cover | © Sunnyside
Building on the success of his 2021 solo debut Dio C’è (“wildly ambitious” — AllMusic) and his co-led 2018 effort with pianist Jason Yeager All at Onceness, alto saxophonist Randal Despommier returns with A Midsummer Odyssey, a captivating duo session with guitarist extraordinaire Ben Monder. The central focus is the highly accessible yet always enigmatic music of Swedish baritone saxophonist Lars Gullin (1928-1976). Alternately boppish, cool, bluesy, folkish and chamber-like, Gullin’s pieces afford the Despommier/Monder duo endless opportunities for fresh reinvention. “The goal of this project,” writes Despommier in the liner notes, “was to tap into the spirit of Gullin’s music and present it in a new way. I’m grateful to Ben Monder for joining me on this journey. He helped me hear Gullin’s music differently and added a richness and depth I did not think possible.”
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Kristjan Randalu, Ben Monder, Markku Ounaskari – Absence (2018)
FLAC (tracks) 24 bit/88,2 kHz | Time – 48:10 minutes | 880 MB | Genre: Jazz
Studio Masters, Official Digital Download | Front Cover | © ECM
For his debut on the ECM label, Estonian pianist Kristjan Randalu surrounded himself with American guitarist Ben Monder and Finnish drummer Markku Ounaskari. A combination suggested by Manfred Eicher, the producer of this album recorded at La Buissonne in the summer of 2017. Absence is first and foremost a beautiful introduction to the ample and rather lyrical style of play of the musician who says he’s been most influenced by his fellow countrymen and composers Erkki-Sven Tüür and Tõnu Kõrvits. A former student of John Taylor and Django Bates, Randalu studied classical music for a long time before turning his attention to jazz. A knowledge that transpires in his piano as well as his writing. His impressive technique and the narrative power of his improvisations give his musical universe a multitude of colours. A palette that Ben Monder – a very much-underrated guitarist – and Markku Ounaskari take hold of in unison.
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Frank Woeste feat. Ben Monder & Justin Brown – Pocket Rhapsody (2016)
FLAC (tracks) 24 bit/44,1 kHz | Time – 54:50 minutes | 573 MB | Genre: Jazz
Studio Masters, Official Digital Download | Front Cover | © ACT Music
Frank Woeste is not just an exceptionally fine pianist and a gifted exponent of the Fender Rhodes, he also has a thorough understanding of his own creative process. If all art is about leaving an impression, then Woeste’s mission is to etch a deep mark both as a player and as a composer. His debut as an artist on ACT, then, not only reveals a musician brimming with ideas, but also a fully-fledged composer and an extremely adept arranger. His trio with guitarist Ben Monder and drummer Justin Brown creates a sound which is orchestral in its scale and its impact. The intimacy of chamber music goes hand in hand here with the forward propulsion of a jazz trio, and with the power of a big band. In other words, the title “Pocket Rhapsody” gets it right.
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Ben Monder – Day After Day (2019)
FLAC (tracks) 24 bit/96 kHz | Time – 01:36:02 minutes | 1,74 GB | Genre: Jazz
Studio Masters, Official Digital Download | Front Cover | © Sunnyside
Creating a distinctive voice and approach on a musical instrument is as difficult as it is rare. Guitarist Ben Monder has long been admired for his personal sound, remarkable command of the guitar, and stylistic versatility. His new recording, Day After Day (a two disc set), provides a look at two distinct sides of his artistic nature, the highly analytical, structural side and the more freely improvisational side, through a series of interpretations of cover material.
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Ben Monder – Amorphae (2015)
FLAC (tracks) 24 bit/88,2 kHz | Time – 44:54 minutes | 683 MB | Genre: Jazz
Studio Masters, Official Digital Download | Digital Booklet, Front Cover | © ECM
Guitarist Ben Monder first recorded for ECM as a member of the Paul Motian Band on Garden of Eden in 2004, and Amorphae was originally conceived as a series of duets for Ben and Paul. A first exploratory duo session was recorded in 2010. After Motians death the following year it was decided to expand and complete the project with another highly influential and innovative drummer, Andrew Cyrille, adding also Pete Rende on synthesizer on two pieces.
So here we hear Monder solo, in duo with Motian, in duo with Cyrille, and in trio with Cyrille and Rende. This range of expressive options casts light upon Monders musical concepts and their adaptability. A guitarists guitarist, Monder is also a master of texture and unusual voicings, creating what one reviewer has called detailed sonic landscapes of mystery and power.
All the music on Amorphae is his, apart from, “Oh, What a Beautiful Mornin’,” the Rodgers & Hammerstein chestnut from the musical Oklahoma!, performed here by Monder and Motian.
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