Lions

Ingo J. Biermann for Nordische Musik

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Lions
(2 CDs, 2013, L&H Production cd806151-19)

For the second CD under the band name »Yelena Eckemoff Trio«, the boss Peter Erskine has switched to the great, over 70-year-old Billy Hart (two years later, however, Erskine was there again), who, like bass master Arild Andersen since the 1970s (although less regularly,) appears in ECM. Hart’s second ECM album in his own name was recorded just a few weeks after this album – and also by James Farber in New York City. The two-day sessions with Yelena Eckemoff in March 2013 were obviously extremely fruitful, because Eckemoff’s concept album about lions became a double CD with almost 100 minutes of music.

One can assume that the concept is also meant in a figurative sense – with the lioness between the two lion men on the cover motif. The work is both personal and metaphorical, easy to understand and immediate as well as multi-layered, and in the ambitious connection with the poems in the booklet to each piece, ultimately also cross-media in the approach. »LIONS« is an album that stimulates countless listening sessions with countless ideas and masterful interaction and, with each of the 14 pieces, provides new and fascinating perspectives on the classically popular world of piano trio jazz. (ijb)

Original German:

Lions
(2 CDs, 2013, L & H Production cd806151-19)

Für die zweite CD unter dem Bandnamen »Yelena Eckemoff Trio« hat die Chefin Peter Erskine gegen den großen, über 70-jährigen Billy Hart ausgewechselt (zwei Jahre später war Erskine allerdings wieder dabei), der wie Bass-Altmeister Arild Andersen seit den Siebzigerjahren (wenngleich weniger regelmäßig) bei ECM in Erscheinung tritt. Harts zweites ECM-Album im eigenen Namen wurde übrigens nur wenige Wochen nach diesem Album aufgenommen – und ebenfalls von James Farber in New York City. Die Sessions mit Yelena Eckemoff an zwei Tagen im März 2013 waren offenkundig äußerst fruchtbar, denn Eckemoffs Konzeptalbum über Löwen wurde direkt eine Doppel-CD mit fast 100 Minuten Musik.

Man darf wohl annehmen, dass das Konzept auch in einem übertragenen Sinne gemeint ist – mit der Löwin zwischen den beiden Löwenmännern auf dem Covermotiv. So ist das Werk gleichermaßen persönlich wie metaphorisch, ebenso leicht verständlich und unmittelbar wie zugleich vielschichtig, und in der ambitionierten Verbindung mit den Gedichten im Beiheft zu jedem Stück letztlich auch medienübergreifend in der Herangehensweise. »LIONS« ist ein Album, das mit unzähligen Ideen und meisterhafter Interaktion zahllose Hördurchgänge anregt und mit jedem der 14 Stücke neue und faszinierende Blickwinkel auf die klassisch-beliebte Welt des Piano-Trio-Jazz schenkt. (ijb)

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Vittorio Lo Conte for Music Zoom

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In various trio engravings, Russian pianist Yelena Eckemoff has changed sideman, adding new colors to her music. In this recent outing the inspiration came from the bassist Arild Andersen, who had ordered a bass with the carved lion on the neck. It ignated a spark that led to the different compositions, the cover page and the various poems, all inspired by Africa and the king of the animals, included in the booklet. Adding to the two is the famous drummer Billy Hart, who brings a remarkable contribution to music. The maturity of the pianist’s writing is felt, and how the two improvisers support her with overwhelming nuances, the subtleties that make the difference. She chose to go on the ninety minutes of music on the two CDs, it may sound too much, but music runs between one and the other, with speed, compact, despite having a complexity that distinguishes it.

The Lions track is the title of the album, a nice theme followed by intricate development, in which the pianist’s classical training is showing through, but also her imagination and interaction with others in a fruitful dialogue. There are also tracks with more emphasis, such as Pursuit, where the rhythm shows great versatility and the ability to carry music to a more African-American accent. There is also a blues on the second record, which is a little jewel of originality, Lions Blues; certainly we are far away from Hank Jones or other bop pianists, but there is so much inspiration and inventiveness in the approach. Another song with a more lively approach is Joining the Pride; more swinging is Ode to Strength that closes the disc, leaving the urge to hear it from head to head.

Original Italian:

Nelle diverse incisioni in trio la pianista russa Yelena Eckemoff ha cambiato i suoi sideman, aggiungendo così sempre nuovi colori alla sua musica. In questa recente incisione l’ispirazione è arrivata dal contrabbassista Arild Andersen, che aveva ordinato uno strumento con un leone intagliato sul manico. È scattata una scintilla che ha portato alle diverse composizioni, al quadro in copertina ed alle diverse poesie, tutte ispirate all’Africa ed al re degli animali, incluse nel booklet. Ad aggiungersi ai due ora c’è il famoso batterista Billy Hart, che porta un notevole contributo alla musica. Si avverte la raggiunta maturità della scrittura della pianista e come i due improvvisatori che la supportano colgano le sfumature, le sottigliezze che fanno la differenza. Si è scelto di andare sui novanta minuti di musica nei due CD, potrebbe sembrare un minutaggio troppo elevato, invece la musica scorre, fra un’invenzione e l’altra, con velocità, compatta, nonostante abbia un qualcosa di complesso che la distingue.

Il titolo d’inizio Lions è quello che dà il titolo all’album, un bel tema seguito da uno sviluppo intricato, in cui si avverte la provenienza dalla musica classica della pianista, ma anche la sua fantasia e l’interazione con gli altri in un proficuo dialogo. Non mancano pagine dai ritmi più accentuati, come Pursuit, in cui la ritmica mostra una grande versilità e la capacità di trasportare la musica verso un accento più afroamericano. C’è anche un blues, nel secondo disco, che è un piccolo gioiello di originalità, Lions Blues, certo siamo lontani da Hank Jones o dagli altri pianisti del bop, ma c’è tanta ispirazione ed inventiva nell’approccio. Un altro brano con un approccio più movimentato è Joining the Pride, più swingante è Ode to Strenght che chiude il disco lasciando la voglia di ascoltarlo da capo.

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Witty for Amazon.de

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5.0 out of 5 stars

Title: Yelena leaves open space

This is the very latest work of the Russian pianist, because while her earlier works – all of them small jewels, undisputed – were very much influenced by her compositional concept, she leaves LIONS exactly the improvisational freedom that her fellow musicians Arid Andersen: bass; Billy Hart: drums need to forge from this double album a neclace of pearls in lushest splendor. What was announced with A Touch of Radiance already, was accomplished here. Unconditional purchase!

Original German:

5.0 von 5 Sternen

Yelena lässt Freiraum

..so könnte man dieses neueste Werk der russischen Pianistin überschreiben, denn während Ihre früheren Werke – allesamt kleine Juwelen, unbestritten – sehr von ihrer Blattkonzeption geprägt waren, lässt sie auf LIONS genau den improvisatoischen Freiraum den ihre Mitstreiter Arid Andersen: bass; Billy Hart: drums benötigen, um aus diesem Doppelalbum eine Perlenkette in üppigster Pracht zu schmieden. Was sich mit A Touch of Radiance bereits ankündigte, wurde hier also vollzogen. Unbedingter Kauftipp!

5.0 out of 5 stars
Highly recommended
By witty on January 14, 2016
Format: Audio CD|Verified Purchase
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Robert Shore for Jazzwise

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Moscow-born, classically trained pianist Yelena Eckemoff displays multiple and multimedia talents on this double-disc release: she composed all the music, wrote poems, reprinted in the accompanying booklet, corresponding to each of the 14 tracks, and created the painting that features on the album cover.

Fulfilling the promise of the collection’s title, the music – and the poems, and that painting- evoke the world of lions. The project was inspired by Norwegian bassist Arild Andersen telling Eckemoff that he had ordered a double bass with a lion’s head carved into its neck; her imagination took fire, although her piano parts here follow a more composed-sounding course and often take a back seat to the improvisatory flourishes of her collaborators, Andersen and US drummer Billy Hart. It’s a charming, smartly executed suite of music, strong on atmospheric scene-setting and shimmering, impressionistic detail, with plenty of beguiling melodic material, though a little more variety in terms of tempo would have been nice.

Robert Shore for Jazzwise

Robert Ratajczak for Long Play

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Russian pianist Yelena Eckemoff is a classically trained musician, and in recent years, with excellent effect of treading the path of jazz music.
Yelena music Eckemoff discovered only in 2013 by its author’s seventh album “Glass Song” (2012). It has been two years in the United States appeared to her again, this time 2-CD album:  “Lions” (2014), like the previous album – trigger an indescribable experience. All material is based on their own compositions, pianist, and fourteen recordings of forming a series of “Lions” accompanied her, known boards renowned ECM label and last album Yelena Eckemoff – bassist Arild Andersen and the drums after three albums recorded by pianist Peter Erskine change guard; the“Lions” we hear the well-known lovers of jazz and even cooperation with Joachim Kuhn, Zbigniew Seifert, Peter Wyleżoł or Wolfgang Muthspiel – Billy Hart.
Publisher “Lions” is not just music given to us – the audience through a unique artist.Eckemoff is also the author of a beautiful illustration adorning the cover and an essay placed inside the book. Reading, watching, listening and above all the contents of this impressive release, we definitely grab the feelings and thoughts that gives us pianist, poet and painter.  

The story of the life and habits of lions create not only poetic essays, illustrations and unambiguous titles of various compositions (eg. , “Night In Savanna” or “Surviving The Famine” ). References to the issues dealt with in the creations also find sound. This is the case in the course: “Migrating Birds” , where Billy Hart brush imitates the sounds of flapping of bird wings, or when “Night In Savanna” when the drums mimics the sounds of rattlesnakes.
But not only clear the effects of songs suited the character well-defined themes. On the“Lions” will find examples of works well constructed in terms of the nature of this phenomenon. Lively, playful melodies “Young At Play” perfectly captures the spirit of carefree fun young lion cubs, and “Surviving The Famine” its atmosphere creates the pain of hunger and desperate attempt to find food for the animals. Joyful “Ode To Strength” summarizing the whole album is, in turn, the final tribute to the courage, strength and nobility of lions.

“Lions” is a captivating jazz journey through the African savannah, full of wonder and elation perfect harmony to the exotic world of animals and nature. Music reflection, full of endearing melody, sometimes taking over. The individual stories painted musical sounds of the piano down upon us in the course of nearly two hours, slowly and with extraordinary subtlety. Trio Yelena Eckemoff seems to create a reality free from the burden of passing time in the unreal, perfect sound world full of harmony and grace.An interesting fact is that the idea of realizing this wonderful album dedicated to the lions, Yelena Eckemoff fell after talking with Arild Andersen, who ordered in France for him made double bass with carved lion’s head on the neck of the instrument.
“Lions” is another step forward in the career of an exceptional artist whose reputation gets better with each successive album, aspiring to the title of one of the most interesting jazz pianists overseas. Even before the release of this album the trio Yelena Eckemoff had an opportunity to present the program at the famous New York jazz club Birdland, meeting with an exceptionally warm welcome.

In the music filling the album, besides her beautiful soul, we find also what is so difficult to achieve in many piano trios, namely to achieve the perfect balance between compromise convincing composition and structure of the loose interaction and improvisation. Interpretations artfully prepared for the album composition, extensive use of color and texture, making them extremely easy to read and full of space. A wonderful album!

Original Polish:

Rosyjska pianistka Yelena Eckemoff jest klasycznie wykształconym muzykiem, a w ostatnich latach z doskonałym efektem stąpa po ścieżce muzyki jazzowej.
Muzykę Yeleny Eckemoff odkryłem dopiero w 2013 roku dzięki jej siódmej autorskiej płycie “Glass Song” (2012). Minęły dwa lata, a w Stanach Zjednoczonych pojawił się jej kolejny, tym razem 2-płytowy album:  “Lions” (2014), podobnie jak poprzednia płyta – wyzwalający nieopisane wrażenia. Cały materiał oparty jest na własnych kompozycjach pianistki, a w czternastu nagraniach tworzących cykl”Lions” towarzyszą jej: znany z płyt renomowanej wytwórni ECM i poprzedniej płyty Yeleny Eckemoff – kontrabasista Arild Andersen, a za perkusją po trzech płytach nagranych przez pianistkę z Peterem Erskine, zmiana warty; na “Lions” słyszymy doskonale znanego miłośnikom jazzu z współpracy choćby z Joachimem Kuhnem, Zbigniewem Seifertem, Piotrem Wyleżołem czy Wolfgangiem Muthspielem – Billy’ego Harta.

Wydawnictwo “Lions” to nie tylko muzyka ofiarowana nam – słuchaczom przez wyjątkową artystkę. Eckemoff jest też autorką pięknej ilustracji zdobiącej okładkę, oraz eseju umieszczonego wewnątrz książeczki. Czytając, oglądając, a przede wszystkim słuchając zawartości tego efektownego wydawnictwa, bezwarunkowo dajemy porwać się uczuciom i myślom jakie przekazuje nam pianistka, poetka i malarka.   

Opowieść o zwyczajach i życiu lwów kreują nie tylko poetyckie eseje, ilustracje i jednoznaczne tytuły poszczególnych kompozycji (np. “Night In Savanna”, czy”Surviving The Famine”). Nawiązania do podejmowanych tematów odnajdziemy także w kreacjach dźwiękowych. Tak jest na przykład w trakcie: “Migrating Birds”, gdzie Billy Hart dźwiękami szczoteczek imituje trzepot ptasich skrzydeł, lub podczas “Night In Savanna” kiedy perkusja naśladuje odgłosy wydawane przez grzechotniki.
Nie tylko jednak jednoznaczne efekty nadają utworom charakteru ściśle określonej tematyki. Na “Lions” znajdziemy przykłady utworów doskonale skonstruowanych pod względem charakteru opisywanego zjawiska. Skoczna, swawolna melodyka “Young At Play” doskonale oddaje ducha beztroskich zabaw młodych lwiątek, a “Surviving The Famine” swym klimatem kreuje ból głodu i rozpaczliwe próby znalezienia pożywienia przez zwierzęta. Radosna “Ode To Strength” podsumowująca cały album to z kolei finalny hołd dla odwagi, siły i szlachetności lwów.

“Lions” to wciągająca jazzowa podróż po afrykańskiej sawannie, pełna zachwytu i uniesień wobec idealnej harmonii egzotycznego świata zwierząt i przyrody. Muzyka refleksyjna, pełna ujmującej melodyki, chwilami przejmująca. Poszczególne muzyczne opowieści malowane dźwiękami fortepianu spływają na nas w trakcie blisko dwóch godzin, niespiesznie i z wyjątkową subtelnością. Trio Yeleny Eckemoff zdaje się kreować rzeczywistość wolną od ciężaru upływającego czasu w odrealnionym, idealnym dźwiękowym świecie pełnym harmonii i wdzięku. Ciekawostką jest fakt, iż na pomysł zrealizowania tego wspaniałego albumu poświęconego lwom, Yelena Eckemoff wpadła po rozmowie z Arildem Andersenem, który zamówił we Francji specjalnie dla niego wykonany kontrabas z głową lwa wyrzeźbioną na szyjce instrumentu.
“Lions” to kolejny krok naprzód w karierze wyjątkowej artystki, której reputacja zyskuje z każdym kolejnym albumem, aspirując do tytułu jednej z najciekawszych pianistek jazzowych za Oceanem. Jeszcze przed ukazaniem się tego albumu trio Yeleny Eckemoff miało okazję przedstawić ten program w kultowym nowojorskim klubie jazzowym Birdland, spotykając się z wyjątkowo gorącym przyjęciem.

W muzyce wypełniającej album, poza jej piękną duszą, odnajdziemy także to, co tak trudne jest do osiągnięcia w wielu triach fortepianowych, a mianowicie osiągnięcie kompromisu idealnej równowagi pomiędzy przekonującą strukturą kompozycji a luźnymi interakcjami i improwizacją. Interpretacje kunsztownie przygotowanych na album kompozycji, szeroko wykorzystują kolory i fakturę, co czyni je wyjątkowo czytelnymi i pełnymi przestrzeni. Cudowny album!

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Andy Boeckstaens for London Jazz News

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Pianist Yelena Eckemoff was born in Moscow. Classically trained, she also dabbled in jazz, but later put her musical life on hold to raise a family. Over 20 years ago, she relocated to the USA and has since produced instrumental and vocal music in a wide range of styles from folk and religious to new age and easy listening. She had to wait until 2009’s “Cold Sun” CD to make her mark in the world of jazz.

Lions is a two-disc set recorded in March 2013. The cover is from a fine painting depicting lions in the savannah, and each of the tracks is linked to a poem. The music, words and artwork are all by Eckemoff, and there is a clear relationship between the poems and the corresponding sounds. The leader is pitched alongside two titans: the Norwegian double bassist Arild Andersen and the American drummer Billy Hart.

At the beginning, the central character observes a young lioness: “How much I wish to be her!” but then the subject is transported – as if in a dream or a fantasy – on the wings of Migrating Birds (evoked by Hart’s flapping brushes) from human form to that of a lioness. Without delay, the lioness chases an antelope in Pursuit: “I leap and impart my kiss of death upon her venerable throat” and the tune ends with appropriate abruptness. Impressionism that evokes the lioness’s lifestyle and surroundings abounds. In Stars Bathing in Shallow Waters, the piano shimmers as she takes a drink from a pond in which the night sky is reflected. Surviving the Famine is about getting by in leaner times.

Many of the pieces may be through-composed, with minimal improvisation. Some have little thematic or harmonic development, and few swing in the conventional sense. Andersen is especially prominent and his gorgeous tone bursts to the fore on most tracks. Although in his element on Lions Blues, Hart is generally more impressive in the background where he provides texture and colouration. Eckemoff rarely grabs attention with bombast; her skill lies in conveying her ideas with care and understatement.

Sphinx is one of Eckemoff’s loveliest creations, yet the protagonist is locked in an unbearable limbo. “What use is it for me to be immortal if I am a stone statue?” she asks. There is a rare vigour to Joining the Pride, in which the lioness is buoyed by the support of her partner, but in an unexpected twist the lion is usurped by a younger model (“Oh my changing heart!”) Towards the end – during Ode to Innocence – the lioness asserts that “I am free from guilt,” and in the concluding Ode to Strength the storyteller is returned – again on a flock of birds – to the human world. She cannot surrender her other incarnation completely, and retains the lioness’s heart. It’s a charming concept, and very beautifully played.

The Yelena Eckemoff Trio (with Arild Andersen and Martin France) will play at Ronnie Scott’s on Apr 18 and will be at the Spice of Life on Apr 19th.

Johnny Torrio for Amazon.com

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Title: Another Priceless Release by Yelena Eckemoff

As I sit and listen to LIONS for the first time I cannot help but think to myself, “How does an artist continually sound fresh, continually add new flavors to the music and continue to create a completely ethereal and all-enveloping soundstage?” Yelena is one such artist. With every release, and this one is an oft wished for two-disc set, she paints a number of smaller pictures that come together as a priceless larger one. LIONS, and even though it almost seems impossible, finds me certain that Yelena has topped herself yet again.

As with her other releases her choices for sidemen have been unquestionably of the highest caliber in their own artistic realm, in this case Arild Andersen on double bass and Billy Hart on drums.

As always, listening to this recording of Yelena’s leaves me at once relaxed and blissful, along with tense with excitement knowing that there will be another ….. and another. Thank you, Yelena and continued great success!

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Carol Banks Weber for AXS

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Title: Yelena Eckemoff becomes one with ‘Lions’

The Yelena Eckemoff Trio’s new Lions double-album comes with a thick CD booklet loaded with pictures of the musicians in action and poetry elaborating on the 14 original songs. On the album cover is a very realistic likeness of three lions in the safari. Eckemoff created all of the art and the music for her March 3, 2015 U.S. release with extreme care.

For most jazz musicians, album art — literary or visual — is the last thing on their minds. They’re only about the music, to the point where they don’t even care what the song titles are, just throw some words together and call it good. A classically trained pianist and composer originally from Moscow, Russia residing in North Carolina, Eckemoff doesn’t make music that way. She prefers to put thought into every detail from concept to execution, even providing her trio — Norwegian double-bassist Arild Andersen, and American drummer Billy Hart — with lead sheets and audio demos before the two-day recording session.

“For some musicians, music is just music. The names of the songs are expendable and what the music expresses is irrelevant — as long as it sounds good,” Eckemoff said in a February 9th press release written by John Kelman. “For me, the music has always been nothing less than captivating storytelling and a way to express my feelings and thoughts, as well as the world around me.”

Eckemoff got so into the narrative of her own music that she soon found herself virtually becoming one of the lions in the album, her eighth jazz venture on record in nine years. “As my imagination grew wilder, I started to fantasize about escaping the human world and turning into a lioness myself. My fantasies were so vivid at times that even now I have my doubts that the story of getting transported to the African savanna on the wings of migrating birds, finding myself in a lioness’ body, and then living in a lion’s pride was just a figment of my imagination,” Eckemoff continued in the press release. “Or was it for real? I hope whoever listens to the music and reads the story might find out for him or herself.”

This is a record that cannot be rushed, or brushed aside to zero in on the good parts. Like the poetic narrative Eckemoff wrote for each chronological story in the song, it’s best to listen over and over from beginning to end without missing one beat, note, or metronome effect (“Young At Play”). Eckemoff is such a cerebral yet heartfelt artist, that it’s impossible to soak in the full immersion of the experience of living in another plane, much less as another kind of animal — without taking the same care and time listening as she did in composing.

The opening track about “Lions” both traces the noble animals’ movements on a strange and barren land, while somehow seizing on what it must feel like to be “full of commanding grace,” with “primordial power [from Eckemoff’s poem].” Eckemoff’s strength as a classical-jazz artist is her ability to embody the very subject she describes through her humanizing music, whether it is rain pattering on a window (2013 Glass Song) or here, watching lions approach in their kingdom.

Each musician in her trio takes a part in the role of the lions, as well as the pride and the fearlessness of those lions: Eckemoff’s piano portrays the sure-footed movement, the graceful confidence, and the beauty especially of the lioness; Andersen’s job is much harder, shifting the movement with an undercurrent of drama and the anticipation of a metamorphosis — Eckemoff’s; and Hart plays the accents, highlighting the action and the mood. “Lions” is the longest song on the record, at nine minutes, 28 seconds, because the trio must set the mood, introduce the main characters, and stir the pot.

As fully prepared as Eckemoff was prior to the recording, it’s not hard to picture the musician losing herself in the notes and the feelings they provide. She must’ve felt incredibly maternal during “Young At Play,” as the music captured “little cubs scampering between [her] paws” — caught in the tumbling art of her reflective piano. But on an existential level, the short, four-minute-plus song does more than add a score to this brief, cute interlude. Towards the end, Eckemoff pulls up a very complex human emotion of hope in her baby cubs’ future as Andersen’s bass and Hart’s sticks slowly build toward that unknown — “You grow fast; will you not tear me to pieces when you learn that I used to be a human?” At the 3:40 mark, Eckemoff beautifully compounds a gradual, darkening shift upon the cubs’ tumbling act with the addition of somber, contrasting tones piling on one another, echoed in kind by Andersen’s bottomless rumbling.

If it weren’t for Eckemoff’s painstaking nature to take care of the mood shifts and emotions at play — these are lions with one absorbing a human soul! — much of the album would revert to soundtrack status, as in more sound effects and score (atmospheric music) than jazz jam sessions. “Migrating Birds,” the second longest song, is completely inventive in the use of the musicians orchestrating their instruments to replicate form from the formless — Billy Hart’s fluttering drums mimic the birds’ wings as they rattle against the wind in flight — and the overwhelming emotion of peace permeating throughout, almost too well. Very little happens to jolt or change the course of these “Migrating Birds” (instrumentation) on their placid journey.

With the first well-chosen, tone-heavy notes by Eckemoff on her piano, the mostly light and lively nature of Lions is thrown into the fiery depths of an ever-changing “Night In Savanna.” Or, as Eckemoff writes in her accompanying poem, “The sky is flaming with red, yellow, violet, and purple; Black silhouettes of vultures puncture an orange glow of dusk… And creepy shadows settle on me like a burden of conscience.” Somehow, the trio is able to manifest all of this in musical form, whether it’s the rising brush strokes of a hushed sunset in Hart’s percussive hands, or the more subtle interlocking sense of elongated time in Andersen’s sporadic, fading bass strings. Underneath the “bloody coat of human world,” Eckemoff controls the volume, speed, and deepens the gaze simply by where her fingers land and linger.

A cool little blues tune comes out of nowhere in the second half of this production with “Lions Blues.” Eckemoff shows off her flair with the extra flash, rattling and rolling as the exclamation points of each pulsating line. She even exhibits an inherent feel for that bluesy push-pull but within the context of the scenery in the “tropical rains.”

For Eckemoff, “one of the most heartfelt tunes” erupts in “Instinct,” about the “shameless mating ground for innocent lions.” In her poem, she calls it “the feral urge,” where “all insecurities of my former self are gone.” For such an openly sensual piece, she keeps the vibe free and easy, and gentle.

By the time “Joining The Pride” gives Billy Hart ample opportunity to start busting out his jazz-funk beats, the trio opens up the arch and triumph of a classically inclined, subdued roaming roster into more of a feral snap. The final piece, “Ode To Strength,” gives the musicians a little more wiggle room, and one can hear Hart jump-starting his kit to the ignition keyed in by Eckemoff. Alas, a jump is all he gets here. Melody is lost in the hunt for harmonic cables amidst “refreshing” avant-garde “gusts.”

Yelena Eckemoff Trio’s Lions is a long but comprehensive look at animals in the wild with human touches, a classical-jazz soundtrack that goes beyond the superficial, intermission grabs for attention and seeks out the feelings beneath the eerily accurate movements. For the most part, Eckemoff more than survives the wild; she civilizes it.

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