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Ben Goldberg
Speech
Communication
TZADIK 8146
AAAA
Go Home
BAG 001
AAAA
Over the last two
decades the Bay Area’s
Ben Goldberg has had
few rivals as one of the
most vibrant, flexible,
and inventive clarinetists
in jazz and improvised music. From his
membership in the pan-stylistic collective Tin
Hat to rigorous sideman work with pianist Myra
Melford or guitarist Nels Cline, he’s able to
adapt his playing perfectly to each given context
without surrendering his personality as a tough
sonic explorer.
On Speech Communication he revisits the
instrumental format of the band where he first
made his mark, New Klezmer Trio. He’s joined
by old bandmate Kenny Wollesen on drums and
the trusty Greg Cohen on bass (replacing original
bassist Dan Seamans), and together they
embrace that wonderful old sound, building
mostly improvised performances from scant
written themes that draw
loosely from the melodic
shapes, mood and harmony
of old Jewish
music.
It’s in this setting
where Goldberg really
pushes the sonic envelope
of the clarinet,
unleashing penetrating
long tones, high velocity
trills and hypnotic circular
riffs, while consistently
maintaining control
of the unwieldy
instrument and weaving such abstractions into
lyric, touching solos. The adept rhythm section
alternates between unobtrusive grooves and coloristic
probing without distracting from
Goldberg’s extended solos, even when he
unleashes the cumbersome sound of the contraalto
clarinet.
For the album Go Home Goldberg reached
back even further, writing a blues-imbued set of
tunes heavy on rhythm and elegant simplicity—
qualities that first engaged the clarinetist with
jazz years back. With drummer Scott Amendola
and seven-string guitarist Charlie Hunter
(who’ve worked together in numerous contexts
in the past) both laying down fat grooves and
constructing lithe armatures, Goldberg and trumpeter
Ron Miles shape beautiful, sometimes pensive
melodies out front, much of them marked
by ebullient contrapuntal generosity.
As gritty as things get—on “Wazee”
Hunter seems to be channeling Albert King—
the band can also play it subtle, as on the sorrowful
“Lace,” where amid the quietly churning
emotion Miles taps into some unpitched
growls that recall Axel Dörner, a nice contrast
to his deeply tuneful, sanguine improvisations.
While Goldberg’s remarkable control and
compositional logic have always shaped even
his most extreme playing, the music on Go
Home represents some of his most accessible
and joyful work, but like everything he undertakes
there’s an unabashed undercurrent of
deep consideration. —Peter Margasak
Speech Communication: Language Behavior; Habituary; Amr;
Head And Tails; Avodyah; Song #1; Papermaker;
Drops Off; Palindromic; Snow Note; Epilogue–Bongoloid Lens.
(59:06)
Personnel: Ben Goldberg, clarinet; Greg Cohen, bass; Kenny
Wollesen, drums.
Ordering info: tzadik.com
»
Go Home: TGO; Wazee; Lace; Root And Branch; Head And
Tails; Ethan’s Song; Inevitable; Isosceles; Reparation;
Papermaker. (72:19)
Personnel: Ben Goldberg: clarinet; Charlie Hunter: seven-string
guitar; Scott Amendola: drums; Ron Miles: cornet, G trumpet.
Ordering info: bengoldberg.net
»
April 2010 DOWNBEAT 67