Ben van Gelder - Reprise (2013) [Hi-Res]

The quintet is a special discovery - a young, fresh, and yet amazingly mature sound out of New York, constructed with intelligence, along with something else that is felt in every moment of the music: an elemental desire to play. Here is music that swings, pulsates. It has lyrical elegance, carried along by a rhythmic density, transparency, and groove that is never gratuitous. It is music that flows out of the mainstream of contemporary jazz, yet moves with such sovereign elegance that what immediately stands out is its special position within that mainstream.

The power of the sound combined with a subtle purity immediately stands out; flowing saxophone lines, tight, compact play—and with it an unusual transparency. There is no need to zap to a piece on which one of New York’s current tenor saxophone stars, namely Mark Turner, plays. Throughout—with Turner or without Turner—a unique, swinging, compelling world of sound opens up. Alto saxo- phonist and bass clarinetist Ben van Gelder is this world’s instigator, and here is Reprise, his first CD on Pirouet. Ben van Gelder is in his mid-twenties, and is one of the new voices who has been getting a lot of attention on the New York scene. Born in 1988 in the Netherlands, van Gelder plays here with partners from his own generation. Most of them were born within the same year: four of the members of the quintet are the same age, and the fifth member has yet to reach his 30th birthday. The quintet’s instrumenta- tion is unusual: alto saxophone, vibraphone, piano, bass, and drums. The group immediately wins the listener over with music that transmits the allure of surprise.

Ben van Gelder —j azz aficionados might well wonder as to whether he is related to Rudy van Gelder, the famous recording engineer whose recording studio in Englewood Cliffs, New Jersey was the site of thousands of recordings for a variety of jazz labels; many of these recordings are now legendary. However, Ben is not a relative of Rudy van Gelder; Ben comes from a Dutch family who loves music. His father owns a record store, his mother is a classically trained musician. Ben became involved in the jazz scene at an early age, was already a prize-winner as a student, and appeared at such prestigious jazz venues as the North Sea Jazz Festival. He studied in Amsterdam, and shortly there- after landed in New York where he continued his schooling with the likes of Lee Konitz and Mark Turner while playing with such diverse major jazz players as Ari Hoenig and David Binney. Van Gelder’s quintet partners on this CD are vibraphonist Peter Schlamb, pianist Sam Harris, bassist Rick Rosato, and drummer Craig Weinrib; they are all major talents on the New York scene; each has frequently ap- peared throughout the area performing with various groups. This particular band has been playing together for over two years. They have already released a debut album, Frame of Reference, in 2011. That CD featured special guests pianist Aaran Parks and trumpeter Ambrose Akinmusire. These two players are major forces on the American jazz scene, acclaimed by both critics and their fellow musicians. The CD was highly praised, and as is the case with the present CD, it was recorded at the Sear Studio in New York. All About Jazz marveled that it was “hard to believe that ‘Frame of Reference’ is a debut album”. The group then took the album’s music on the road, touring the USA, Canada, and Europe. Despite its members’ unabashedly youthful presence—a photo on Ben van Gelder’s homepage portrays the band in checkered shirts, playful and self-ironic—they al- ready have considerable experience in putting forward their own concepts and compositions.

With the exception of R.E.L. which was written by Peter Schlamb, all of the compositions on the CD are by Ben van Gelder. These are pieces that seem to be tailor-made for this band and its unique sound. “We’ve taken a lot of time to develop a band sound. The combination of vibraphone and piano is unusual and creates a distinctive texture. Each of us has a strong sense of form and has a deep under- standing of composition. The band can create a large orchestral sound, and it can also sound minimalistic, with little in the way of chordal information. But the most impor- tant point is that everyone listens as intently as possible to what’s going on. And we’ve all immersed ourselves in the jazz tradition.”

Sometimes the compositions are hymnal, sometimes lyrical, savoring the cantilena of the alto saxophone and expanding the space of the vibraphone and piano’s tonal possibilities. Once again the space retracts, then allows the sounds to gradually grow as they remain intensely transparent—all of this in a single piece whose title clearly expresses, the character of the composition: Crystalline. The musical movements come off as being exceptionally sophisticated and multidimensional. In Crystalline exuberant, agitated, driving drum play underpins a lyrical theme.

Ben Van Gelder, alto saxophone, bass clarinet
Peter Schlamb, vibraphone
Sam Harris, piano
Rick Rosato, bass
Craig Weinrib, drums
Mark Turner, tenor saxophone (on tracks 5 and 8)
Ben Street, bass (on tracks 5 and 9)

Tracklist:
01. Ben van Gelder - Introduction (3:12)
02. Ben van Gelder - All Rise (6:10)
03. Ben van Gelder - Crystalline (5:45)
04. Ben van Gelder - Tribute (5:23)
05. Ben van Gelder - Into Air It Disappears (3:57)
06. Ben van Gelder - R.E.L. (4:37)
07. Ben van Gelder - Yarnin' (1:35)
08. Ben van Gelder - Reprise (4:41)
09. Ben van Gelder - vocation (2:59)
10. Ben van Gelder - August (4:09)
11. Ben van Gelder - Without Haste (1:24)