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Lions sounds like Yelena Eckemoff letting go, following her muse with a focused fervor. The music—structured gorgeousness in the embrace of the improvisational elan of Andersen and Hart—is Yelena’s strongest statement to date, a flawless and beguiling work of art.
Effortlessly modern, with nothing to prove beyond total involvement in the moment, Eckemoff presents the listener with a thoroughly modern, yet intimate and highly personal sound-world. All of the compositions on Leaving Everything Behind are Eckemoff’s originals. Several of these date from the 1980s; a time when she was just beginning her exploration into jazz. Interestingly, these pieces seem highly refined, replete with airy, vague harmonies that refer equally to Bill Evans and Claude Debussy.
Leading an impressionistic trio that leans more toward ECM than Windham Hill, this is introspective music for the neo-classical fan that knows how to recognize the real deal.
A well balanced and focused jazz trio can create a superb ambiance. Yelena Eckemoff is using the trio format to capture the essence of seasons. Cold Sun was released last year and it reflected the bleakness of winter with icy, crystalline notes and reserved arrangements. She is exploring spring with and the compositions on Grass Catching the Wind are warmer, brighter.
The music is intelligent without being pedantic, sophisticated without being sterile, creative without being indulgent, and sensitive without being desultory. Tunes bounce, weave, collide and open up as temperatures and musical barometric pressures change.