Dan Tepfer & Ben Wendel - Small Constructions

Styles: Piano And Saxophone Jazz
Year: 2013
File: MP3@320K/s
Time: 51:27
Size: 118,4 MB
Art: Front

(5:24)  1. Still Play
(4:02)  2. Pannonica
(5:39)  3. Jean and Renata
(4:21)  4. Line Up
(2:00)  5. Line
(6:23)  6. Nines
(6:04)  7. Gratitude
(5:54)  8. Ask Me Now
(2:02)  9. Rygabag
(3:04) 10. Darn That Dream
(3:59) 11. Variation 1 in D minor
(2:28) 12. Oblique Strategy

The occasion. Some days spent at the Yamaha artist-space in Manhattan with some precious tools close at hand. The raw material. Two Monk classics, one of the best known standards, Lennie Tristano, Handel, a pinch of Messiaen and some original ones. The protagonists. Dan Tepfer, a young, award-winning pianist with an open mind and excellent collaborations (Konitz on all) and Ben Wendel, co-founder of Kneebody, one of the most interesting bands of the new electro-acoustic wave coming from the big apple. The result. Small Constructions. Brick after brick Tepfer and Wendel build colorful musical houses, small houses with different profiles, moods and perfumes, each with its own story to tell, each with a world to explore and share. The use in different passages of overdubs, the instruments that multiply and are also combined boldly - the mixture of piano and Fender Rhodes adds to the Tristanian "Line Up" a vaguely naive and psychedelic - contributes to greatly expand the palette timbre available to musicians, good at preserving size, good taste, respect for shapes and, why not, elegance. The risk of slipping into mannerism or of transforming the widespread intimacy of dialogue into a cloying exercise of style is averted by the familiarity of both with the canons of classical music, their innate propensity for research, and the gifts of exquisite improvisers. Finally, curiosity. In the last song, Tepfer and Wendel exchange instruments, the first takes the alto sax, the second sits at the piano. A simple melody, an execution with few notes, almost childlike, just over two minutes of poignant beauty, directly from the heart to warm up the soul. ~ AAJ Italy Staff https://www.allaboutjazz.com/small-constructions-dan-tepfer-sunnyside-records-review-by-aaji-staff.php

Personnel: Dan Tepfer (piano, fender rhodes, alto sax in # 12); Ben Wendel (saxophones, bassoon, melodica, piano in # 12).

Small Constructions

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