Desert

Ingo J. Biermann for Nordische Musik

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Desert
(2018, L&H Production cd806151-27)

»DESERT« was recorded in Hollywood at the end of 2015, but was not released until 2018. This time, Yelena Eckemoff’s concept album about the desert – and thus perhaps a spiritual successor to »LIONS« – under the band name »Quartet« – was the first line-up of the “Yelena Eckemoff Trio” with bassist Arild Andersen and drummer Peter Erskine (see “GLASS SONG”), expanded to include Oregon woodwind player Paul McCandless, who alternately plays cor anglais, soprano sax, bass clarinet, oboe and penny whistle. From the Norwegian first edition of the “Yelena Eckemoff Quartet” (see above), only Arild Andersen came along; one could speak of the (predominantly) American quartet.

A good three years after »GLASS SONG«, Andersen, Erskine and Eckemoff met again in the studio, and for both men this is already the fourth album with the pianist. The recording was made on two days in December, and one can assume that, despite the time of year, California was, so to speak, a suitable place for the topic of »DESERT« – accordingly, the 75-minute suite of eleven pieces has a very different tone. Not only are the melodies often reminiscent of the Middle East, oriental and even distant times (and films from the forties or fifties, for example), the presence of McCandless underlines this thematic concept and the corresponding coloring. Seen in this way, we are extremely far from »Nordic music«, Andersen alone connects »DESERT« with our website. Nice to be able to experience it here in an unfamiliar context. As on the previous albums, this also proves to be a wonderful collaboration with the American pianist, with its unusual and intricate melodies. (ijb)

Original German:

Desert
(2018, L & H Production cd806151-27)

Aufgenommen wurde »DESERT« Ende 2015 in Hollywood, veröffentlicht allerdings erst 2018. Diesmal erschien Yelena Eckemoffs Konzeptalbum über die Wüste – und damit vielleicht ein geistiger Nachfolger von »LIONS« – unter dem Bandnamen »Quartet« – dabei handelt es sich um die erste Besetzung des »Yelena Eckemoff Trio« mit Bassist Arild Andersen und Schlagzeuger Peter Erskine (siehe »GLASS SONG«), erweitert um Oregon-Holzbläser Paul McCandless, der im Wechsel Englischhorn, Sopransax, Bassklarinette, Oboe und Penny Whistle spielt. Von der norwegischen ersten Edition des »Yelena Eckemoff Quartets« (s.o.) ist somit nur Arild Andersen mitgekommen; man könnte also vom (vorwiegend) amerikanischen Quartett sprechen.

Gut drei Jahre nach »GLASS SONG« trafen sich Andersen, Erskine und Eckemoff also wieder im Studio, und für beide Herren ist dies bereits das vierte Album mit der Pianistin. Die Aufnahme entstand an zwei Tagen im Dezember, und man kann annehmen, dass Kalifornien trotz der Jahreszeit sozusagen ein passender Ort zum Thema »DESERT« war – entsprechend hat die 75-minütige Suite aus elf Stücken einen sehr anderen Tonfall. Nicht nur erinnern die Melodien oft an Nahost, an Orientalisches und auch an ferne Zeiten (und Filme, etwa der Vierziger- oder Fünfzigerjahre), zudem unterstreicht speziell die Präsenz von McCandless dieses thematische Konzept und die entsprechende Färbung. So gesehen sind wir äußerst weit weg von »Nordischer Musik«, allein Andersen verbindet »DESERT« mit unserer Webseite. Schön, ihn hier mal in einem ungewohnten Kontext erleben zu dürfen. Wie auf den vorigen Alben erweist sich auch dies, mit seinen ausgefallenen und verschlungenen Melodien, als wunderbare Zusammenarbeit mit der wahlamerikanischen Pianistin. (ijb)

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Dr. Bob Weathers for Amazon.com

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5.0 out of 5 stars
Title: Yelena Eckemoff’s “Desert”: Extraordinary Quartet Jazz in an Arabic Mood!
Originally released just last year, in 2018, is yet another, incredibly unique and creative offering by pianist extraordinaire (and prolific composer) Yelena Eckemoff. Yelena may be Russian by birth, and now American by residence, but you would not know that by the exotic tonalities expressed in this, her latest album. From the opening strains, and consistently voiced throughout, Yelena this time takes us to the desert climes of north Africa and the Middle East, where Arabic scales and rhythms reign supreme.

What an unexpected joy to hear her take us on a thrilling journey with this caravan of equally intrepid explorers, all expert artists with resumés to match: woodwind maestro Paul McCandless (most famously of the world music pioneers, Oregon; but do not miss his rich solo career, either); bassist Arild Andersen (whose ECM explorations, since that esteemed label’s very earliest days 50 years prior, have truly defined that instrument); and Peter Erskine, esteemed percussionist and educator (having played with everybody from Stan Kenton to Weather Report and on, not the least of which are his own essential, solo dates on ECM).

To bring this level of musicianship to the task of translating Arabic sonorities into the best of jazz improvisation – well, let us just say, Yelena’s choices are themselves further strokes of her immense genius. Paul McCandless dances with Yelena, her piano perfectly complemented by his insinuating oboe, wooden flute, and other woodwind work, conjuring sensual images of Saharan oases. Arild Andersen’s bass has never sound more full-bodied, nor more surprising, in his own seeming native familiarity with the ways of the desert caravanserai. Peter Erskine has pulled together a most unusual drum kit, combining more expectable Western jazz sounds (though he is clearly amongst a small handful of those most expert) with distinctively Arabic applications (imagine an Egyptian wedding, with goblet hand-drums ringing across the Nile).

Dear Yelena: you gift us with your own pianistic depth and imagination (such fine and creative comping, “behind the scenes,” for one); unceasing compositional creativity in formulating this genuinely compelling musical milieu; and completing it with a radical masterstroke of artistic team selection: a quartet here of authentically like-minded (and selfless) souls, all joined so profoundly in bringing Arabic evocations right into the heart of the improvised jazz traditions.

A brief postscript: credit Ms. Eckemoff for inspiring at least one listener to go seeking not only more of her music (14 albums in just the past 10 years), but also to go in search of music he has not listened to in well over a decade – other indigenous masters of Arabic exotica, like Djavan Gasparyan, Kudsi Erguner, Anouar Brahem, and Rabih Abou-Khalil (the latter two, themselves, with numerous, highly regarded albums available on ECM Records).

And a quick question: Yelena, are you really sure you are from Russia?

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Ron Schepper for Textura

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Yelena Eckemoff approaches her musical productions much like a congenial film director. To bring out the best performances, she first selects exceptionally talented ‘actors’ who, having been provided with clear instruction (read: charts), require a modicum of instruction. Eckemoff directs with a nurturing hand, intent on ensuring that everyone involved is comfortable, and she ‘acts,’ too, though always in such a way that she’s never less or more dominant than the others. Yet while their contributions are critical to the project’s outcome, Eckemoff, as composer, producer, arranger, and pianist, is clearly the one in charge. And her involvement extends into other areas, too: she composes texts that serve as guideposts for the compositions and displays her professional-calibre paintings in the release packages.

Her recent Desert is representative of the approach. For this date, she convened Oregon’s Paul McCandless (oboe, English horn, soprano sax, bass clarinet), Norwegian bassist Arild Andersen, and drummer Peter Erskine (Weather Report, Steps Ahead), three players with decades of recordings and gigs behind them (Andersen and Erskine teamed up for the first time, incidentally, on Eckemoff’s 2013 release Glass Song). They’re seasoned pros who, presented with charts, can deliver a credible performance the first time through, and consistent with that each of the recording’s eleven tracks plays like a live take the four laid down soon after familiarizing themselves with it; as a result, the music’s characterized by freshness and spontaneity. Erskine’s comment after the two-day recording session ended is telling: “Yelena brings out the best in all of us.”

The leader herself is a distinctive player, a pianist who brings a very personalized style to the jazz piano tradition. Whereas another’s is heavily informed by the blues or R&B, her playing is strongly influenced by years of classical training, which makes for a generally elegant and lyrical result. Perhaps the best way of stating it is to say that she embroiders the material (see “Garden of Eden” as an especially good illustration) while also providing a secure foundation for her partners; rarely sitting out, she’s instead omnipresent, though never overbearingly. Her solos are typically arresting for the way they weave intricate patterns without losing a fundamental sense of swing.

It’s a concept album of sorts that sees Eckemoff and company relocating to the Arabian desert and evoking in musical form the sights, sounds, and rhythms of the setting. True to form, she composed texts for the compositions, in this case a short story for the opening “Bedouins” and poems for the ones following. In the story, a Westerner, having lost his wife and daughter, decamps to Arabia where he stays with a Bedouin family, hoping to join it. Having determined that his guest’s a better writer than desert worker, the family patriarch invites the visitor to stay but in a writing capacity, the poems displayed after the story presumably samples of his creative output. Eckemoff’s never visited the Arabian Desert (she was born and raised in Moscow and emigrated to the United States in 1991) and the album was recorded in Hollywood, California, but that hardly deterred her from imagining what it would be like to gaze upon sand dunes and the slow treks of caravans.

All four musicians are integral to Desert‘s tapestries. Erskine is a wellspring of percussive imagination, Andersen unfailing, McCandless indispensable, and Eckemoff her usual attentive, supportive self. Though McCandless is the one most responsible for articulating the melodic character of a given piece, each player’s contributions are critical; in augmenting his drumming with percussion, for example, Erskine does much to help evoke the mystery of the Arabian locale (see “Oasis,” for example). Interplay is at a consistently high level, and solo episodes emerge naturally from the ensemble; Eckemoff favours slow to medium tempos, which also allows for a relaxed, loose feel that encourages improvisation and strengthens the impression of live interaction. In a typical piece, the musicians follow a road map of sorts that provides direction but that’s also not constricting creatively, and free episodes even in a few cases arise. While Desert is by default jazz, it also could be labeled World music for its aromatic fusion of Arabic music, jazz, and classical.

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Ulf Johanson for Lira

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Russian-born pianist Yelena Eckemoff, for many years based in North Carolina, has gathered a solid band of musicians for this project, with the desert as a supporting theme. The classically-educated Eckemoff, who
has been writing and painting since childhood, has created the prose, poetry and music around her story. Several songs have been in Eckemoff’s chest of drawers until, in the bassist Arild Andersen, drummer Peter
Erskine and versatile blower Paul McCandless – the latter from Oregon – she found the right people for their execution.

It is music that carries a lot of art in its expression, its strength above all lies in what goes beyond the notes: it is the fine interaction between the four, not least Eckemoff and McCandless, that give the music its distinctive color and tone. The poet Eckemoff writes well, albeit multifaceted. I personally prefer to let the music tell you the story, free from words and images. But perhaps the superstructure is more important for the creative artist than for the listener.

Original Swedish:

Den ryskfödda pianisten Yelena Eckemoff, sedan många år baserad i North Carolina, har samlat en gedigen samling musiker för det här projektet, med öknen som bärande tema. Den klassiskt skolade Eckemoff, som sedan unga år också skriver och målar, har till sin berättelse skapat den huvudperson som prosa, dikt och musik kretsar kring. Flera sånger har legat i Eckemoffs byrålåda tills hon i basisten Arild Andersen, trummisen Peter Erskine och mångsidige blåsaren Paul McCandless, den senare känd från gruppen Oregon, fann rätt folk till sin expedition.

Det är musik som bär en hel del av konstmusik i uttrycket, men som framför allt har sin styrka i det som händer bortom det noterade, i det fina samspelet mellan de fyra, inte minst Eckemoff och McCandless, som ger
musiken sin egenartade färg och ton. Poeten Eckemoff skriver väl, om än mångordigt. Jag föredrar ändå att låta musiken berätta, fri från ord och bild. Kanske är överbyggnaden viktigare för den skapande konstnären än den är för lyssnaren.

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Tor Hammerø for Tor De Jazz

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Paul McCandless, Yelena Eckemoff, Peter Erskine and Arild Andersen – one surprising quartet. The pianist and composer Eckemoff has had the United States as his homeland for many years now. From her base, she invites many of her favorite musicians to create something special with her. This time it’s our own master bassist Andersen, Weather Report legend Peter Erskine on drums and oboist, hornist, soprano saxophonist and bass clarinetist, PaulMcCandless from the special group of Oregon.

Eckemoff, originally from Moscow, moved to the United States in 1991 and has worked within a variety of musical genres. Her first jazz album came in 2009 and she has also recorded albums together with other Norwegian musicians like Tore Brunborg, Jon Christensen and Mats Eilertsen. When, in addition great musicians like Manu Katché, Ben Monder, Billy Hart and Marilyn Mazur are among Eckemoff’s partners, to understand what level she is at.

With this quartet and with this recording, made in Hollywood in December 2015, but first released now, we meet Eckemoff’s world how it sounds exactly in this case. The music has a kind of Middle East feel and, of course, Andersen, Erskine and McCandless’s have unique contributions on this album. The meeting has become something special.

Eckemoff is also a poet and visual artist and gives us a test of both through the cover booklet. The melodic and rhythmically exciting journey has something different about them. I’m not too excited about all the
songs – some songs are quite easy to forget. Either way it has become a great and different meeting.

Original Norwegian:

Paul McCandless, Yelena Eckemoff, Peter Erskine og Arild Andersen – en overraskende kvartett. Pianisten og komponisten Eckemoff har hatt USA som hjemland i mange årnå. Fra sin base der inviterer hun mange av sine favorittmusikanter til å skape noe eget sammen med henne. Denne gangen er det vår egen mesterbassist Andersen, Weather Report-legenden Peter Erskine på trommer og oboist, hornist, sopransaksofonist og bassklarinettist Paul McCandless fra den helt spesielle gruppa Oregon.

Eckemoff, opprinnelig fra Moskva, flytta til USA i 1991 og har jobba innenfor en rekke musikalske sjangre. Hennes første jazzplate kom i 2009 og hun har også spilt inn plater sammen med andre norske musikanter som Tore Brunborg, Jon Christensen og Mats Eilertsen. Når det i tillegg kan nevnes at store musikanter som Manu Katché, Ben Monder, Billy Hart og Marilyn Mazur er blant Eckemoffs samarbeidspartnere, så skjønner vi på hvilket nivå hun befinner seg.

Med denne kvartetten og med denne innspillinga, som er gjort i Hollywood i desember 2015, men først utgitt nå, møter vi Eckemoffs verden slik den høres ut akkurat i dette tilfellet i alle fall. Musikken har en slags midtøsten-feeling over seg og sjølsagt gjør både Andersen, Erskine og McCandless sine unike bidrag sitt til at dette møtet har blitt noe spesielt.

Eckemoff er også poet og billedkunstner og gir oss prov på begge deler gjennom omslagsheftet. Den melodiske og rytmisk spennende reisa har noe annerledes over seg, men jeg er ikke like begeistra for alle låtene – noen av dem er ganske så lett å glemme. Uansett har det blitt et morsomt og annerledes møte.

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Ken Franckling’s Jazz Notes

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Moscow-born pianist and composer Yelena Eckemoff has a vivid imagination – imagining her own view of the multi-faceted Middle Eastern desert into one of the year’s finest jazz concept recordings. Desert is rich with musical influences from its land of inspiration – delivered artfully by Eckemoff and fellow sound travelers: horns player Paul McCandless, bassist Arild Andersen and drummer/percussionist Peter Erskine. Favorite tracks: “Bedouins,” the teasing piece “Mirages,” the sinuous “Dance,” “Oasis” and the unrelenting flow of “Dust Storm.” Eckemoff, based in North Carolina since 1991, also painted the impressionistic CD cover and included her own fictional stories and poems that complement each of the 11 tracks. The scope of the project and the delivery by this fine quartet are masterful. 

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Johnny Torrio for Amazon.com

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5.0 out of 5 stars

Title: Another Must-Have by Yelena Eckemoff

Once again, with her album ‘Desert’, Yelena Eckemoff strikes a chord, or a number of them in fact. As her artistry typically mandates she has a through line here, which in this case is nicely apparent from the very title. Along with steady sidemen Peter Erskine on drums and percussion and Arild Andersen thrumming the double bass, Yelena engages the exotic euphony of Oregon co-founder Paul McCandless on oboe, English horn, soprano sax and bass clarinet.

My first and immediate reaction when I started the disc with the first track, “Bedouins” was to both see and feel myself in the open market of the agora as the snake charmer performs his magic, the awe of which envelops us as McCandless’ soprano sax wraps around us in flowing waves. The record continues on with the mystery of “Condor”, the sonic flight weaving in, out, upward and across. One can almost see the blanche of the white sand in “Colors of Nothingness”, though the musical palette is anything but stark. The magic of discovery is ever present as Arild Andersen walks us through the “Garden of Eden” on his double bass, nudging us toward the final walk through “Sands” as the album closes on a contemplative note.

As a fan dating back to Ms. Eckemoff’s early trio dates I have enjoyed listening to her steady progression as an artist, with each recording showcasing not just another facet of her diversity, but another layer of her incredible depth. Yelena is a seriously talented artist conceptually, compositionally and mechanically. As with each release before this one, I can only anxiously wonder what’s next? A must have.
 

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Peter Dobšinský for SKJazz

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A virtuoso pianist of Russian origin is coming up with the novelty again in the quartet, but this time she was surrounded by an elite from the Nordic scene. The rhythm section features legendary European jazzmen Arild Andersen and Peter Erskine. This combination works well, as the typical Eckemoff’s coloring is well matched by lyrical-melodic sensation in Andersen and Erskine. The album features 11 originals from Eckemoff. In this album we can hear her feel for detail, story and meaning even more than ever before. In her work, we never find just such disguised unrelated pieces. Eckemoff’s goal is to create a cohesive work that reflects something specific; in this case, namely the environment and the atmosphere of the desert. There is no doubt that Eckemoff is a master in conceptual work and has been confirming it for many years. In the songs we can talk about represent a modern concept that draws on jazz traditions, free jazz, classical music, but quite often, in the context of the desert, we hear elements of the music of the distant east. As is the case with Eckemoff’s tradition, it follows the austere testimonies that have fewer notes, but through the colors and melodies they will tell a lot. Yelene Eckemoff with the famed quartet has captured life in the wilderness through an exceptional musical experience that you will not miss.

They play:
Yelena Eckemoff – Piano
Paul McCandles – Oboe, English Corner, Soprano Saxophone, Bass Clarinet
Arild Andersen – double bass
Peter Erskine – Drums

Original Slovak:

Virtuózna klaviristka ruského pôvodu prichádza s novinkou opäť v zostave kvarteta, no tentokrát sa obklopila elitou zo severskej scény. Rytmickú sekciu zastupujú legendárni, európsky jazzmani Arild Andersen a Peter Erskine. Toto spojenie funguje vynikajúco, nakoľko typický farebný prejav Eckemoff sa dobre dopĺňa s lyricko-melodickým cítením v hre Andersena a Erskinea. Album prináša 11 originálov z pera Eckemoff. Na tomto albume môžeme počuť jej cit pre detail, príbeh a význam ešte viac ako kedykoľvek predtým. V jej tvorbe nikdy nenachádzame len tak poskladané nesúvisiace skladby. Cieľom Eckemoff je vytvoriť súdržné dielo, ktoré niečo konkrétne vyobrazuje v tomto prípade je to prostredie a atmosféra púšte. Niet pochýb, že Eckemoff je majsterka v konceptuálnej tvorbe a potvrdzuje to už dlhé roky. V skladbách môžeme hovoriť o modernom poňatí, ktoré čerpá z jazzových tradícii, free jazzu, klasickej hudby, ale pomerne často tu v spojitosti s púšťou počujeme prvky hudby vzdialeného východu. Ako je už u Eckemoff tradíciou siaha po strohých výpovediach, ktoré majú menej nôt, ale skrze farby a melódie povedia veľa. Yelene Eckemoff s famóznym kvartetom sa podarilo zachytiť život na púšti skrze výnimočný hudobný zážitok, ktorý si nenechajte ujsť.

Hrajú: 
Yelena Eckemoff – klavír
Paul McCandles – hoboj, anglický roh, soprán saxofón, bas klarinet
Arild Andersen – kontrabas
Peter Erskine – bicie nástroje

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Hans-Jürgen Schaal for Jazzthetik

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It’s already her 12th album in 9 years. The pianist, who moved from Russia to the USA in 1991, writes her very own jazz history, so to speak. She conceives each of her albums as a small work of art – the pieces, the paintings, the literary texts, everything comes from her. And Yelena Eckemoff carefully selects her fellow musicians. Big names like Billy Hart, Marilyn Mazur, George Mraz or Chris Potter were already among them. This time it’s about the concept theme ‘desert’, for which Eckemoff has put together 11 pieces like Bedouins, Oasis or Dust Storm. Here she does not devote herself to oriental jazz, but translates gentle, exotic tones into a harmonious framework. Her themes are capricious, her piano playing is more linear and winding than usual, the music has a beautiful flow, and the comrades-in-arms are three real fine spirits. The ‘nasally’ instruments – oboe, cor anglais, soprano saxophone – of the Oregon veteran Paul McCandless fit well into the moderately exotic concept. Arild Andersen makes the bass sing, and Peter Erskine is allowed to create some desert groove on the drums now and then. Eckemoff has already announced her next two albums.

Original German:

Es ist bereits ihr zwiolftes Jazz­ album in neun Jahren. Die Pianistin, die 1991 aus Russland in die USA zog, schreibt sozusagen ihre ganz eigene Jazzgeschichte. Jedes ihrer Alben konzipiert sie als kleines Gesamtkunstwerk – die Stucke, die Gemalde, die literarischen Texte, alies stammt van ihr. Und ihre Mitmusiker sucht Yelena Eckemoff sorgsam aus. Grose Namen waren schon darunter, etwa Billy Hart, Marilyn Mazur, George Mraz oder Chris Potter. Diesmal geht es urns Konzeptthema “Wuste”, fur das Eckemoff elf Stucke mit Titeln wie “Bedouins”, “Oasis” oder  “Dust Storm” zusammengestellt hat. Sie ubt sich hier nicht in Orient-Jazz, sondern ubersetzt sanfte exotische Anklange in ein harmonisches Gerust. lhre Themen haben etwas Kaprizioses, ihr Klavierspiel ist Iinearer und verwinkelter als sonst, die Musik besitzt einen schiinen Fluss, und die Mitstreiter sind drei echte Feingeister. Gut passen die “naselnden” lnstrumente – Oboe, Englischhorn, Sopransax – des Oregon-Veteranen Paul McCandless ins gemäßigt exotische Konzept. Arild Andersen lasst den Bass singen, und Peter Erskine darf auf den Drums hin und wieder etwas Desert-Groove erzeugen. lhre nachsten beiden Jazzalben hat Eckemoff schon angekundigt.

Hans-Jürgen Schaal for Jazzthetik

Rainer Guerich for inHard

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The Moscow pianist and composer Yelena Eckemoff is a real exception in the jazz scene. You can also witness it on her latest recording “Desert,” her imaginative compositions of Bedouins, dust storms and sand dunes. At her exciting Piano Jazz with Arabic influences, Yelena is accompanied by a top-class quartet of Paul McCandles (sax, horn, oboe, clarinet), Arild Andersen (bass) and Peter Erskine (drums, percussion). Awesome!  

Rainer Guerich for inHard
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