Twelve Minor [IMPORT]

Ben Goldberg

Product Details

• Audio CD (July 21, 1998)
• Original Release Date: July 21, 1998
• Number of Discs: 1
• Format: Import
• Label: Avant Japan
• ASIN: B000007TO7
• Also Available in: Audio CD
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #1,161,652 in Music (See Bestsellers in Music)

Editorial Reviews

From Jazziz
Eight years after Don Byron's landmark Tuskegee Experiments, it's still not as if the clarinet's making a comeback. But the once-dominant instrument is far more frequently evident in jazz these days - and not just in Dixieland. Ben Goldberg, the Bay Area composer and bandleader, has long been ahead of that curve. As leader of the New Klezmer Trio, he had the jump on Byron's klezmer project (Plays the Music of Mickey Katz) and on John Zorn's klezmer-inspired supergroup Masada. Somehow, though, Goldberg has never attracted the same kind of notice. Must be an East Coast/West Coast thing because the music on Twelve Minor slams the noggin with delicious complexities. The Middle Eastern/Middle European themes percolate throughout, refined through the (seemingly requisite of late) post-Ornette structural influences, but Goldberg doesn't stop there. He's organized a superb sextet - drummer Kenny Wollesen, bassist Trevor Dunn, koto improvisor Miya Masoaka, violinist Carla Kihlstedt, and tenor saxophonist Rob Sudduth - that's extremely sensitive to textural tensions. (For examples, check the vigorous precision of Wollesen's brush work or the Eastern traditions and tunings evoked by Masoaka.) These tensions can be resolved or heightened through delicately tuned interplay. As exemplified by the contemplative lilt of "Twine: Harmony," one of eight studies on the album, it's a chemistry that's part old country, part jazz underground, and part Zen garden.

--- Steve Dollar, JAZZIZ Magazine Copyright © 2000, Milor Entertainment, Inc.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

3 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars J' aime, July 22, 2000

By	"fix00" (Gif sur Yvette France) - See all my reviews

What you won't hear are screeching solos, long accompanied passages of instrumental exploration, the ping pong of conversation - in fact, almost nothing strays from the exposition of Goldberg's pure tunes in their glory. And they are glorious, memorable tunes indeed. The leader's cagey approach here is to simplify in order to reveal;what is revealed is the complexity already inherent in the bare act of playing together. When he and bassist Trevor Dunn convene on their frequent unison thematic declamations, the nuances of phrasing and timing make for very exciting listening, as does Kenny Wollesen's well drum accompaniment. And while they're clearly looking to trim the fat, the ensemble does veer from the melodic material, too, albeit is an extremely controlled manner, like an especially terse form of free haiku. But even with all this going for it, Twelve Minor might seem if Goldberg's composition's themselves weren't so enticing, so winningly devised to feature his horn. If you like the trio Rob Sudduth - Kenny Wollesen - Trevor Dunn that you have even heard in "JUST ONE OF THOSE THINGS" ( inspired by frank Sinatra ), you will enjoy "Twelve Minor" ( inspired by "no deus nisi deus" would say The Dunn of Mr Bungle ). But the Dunn of Goldberg plays a Melodic, angular, dark and woody (free?) jazz. They join forces in a fine and varied program of original compositions for clarinets and/or bass clarinets. Their swinging sextet is completed by longtime Goldberg collaborators Trevor Dunn (bass) and Kenny Wollesen (drums)and by new girls Carla and Miya. So why not five stars ? because Carla Kihlstedt -violin- and Miya Masaoka - koto - seem no to be used to exploring their instrument.

Excuse me for my english, I am french If you like this CD, try to listen to Max Roach. There are many differencies between Goldberg and Roach but both try and try until they try once again.