Daily jazz blog, Marlbank

Bendik Giske, Bendik Giske, Smalltown Supersound ***1/2

If you are an Evan Parker fan and like the repetition, the playing with the squally, freer ends of the saxophone's outer limits you will find something like a flicker of recognition here from Norwegian saxophonist Bendik Giske although it is far …

Published: 11 Jul 2023. Updated: 11 months.

bg

If you are an Evan Parker fan and like the repetition, the playing with the squally, freer ends of the saxophone's outer limits you will find something like a flicker of recognition here from Norwegian saxophonist Bendik Giske although it is far more melodic and has a more finely concentrated vocabulary compared to what Parker produces. It's easy to listen to as you wiz through the almost zen-like routines that flow easily from one tributary to another and then satisfyingly into a bigger pool of sound as the strands of ideas coalesce say into the anthem like swagger of 'Not Yet' or hover like a butterfly on 'Rhizome' where Giske is a little in the Colin Stetson-like zone. The droney 'End' does not work quite so well but the bigger picture is this largely works as a concept. Produced by electronica producer Beatrice Dillon there's a Dillon remix of album track 'Rise and Fall' that fills out the sound in a different way and sits well with the rest of the tracks. There's a well developed individuality that lifts this above a lot of similar efforts, sends you to clubland and back. Is it jazz - does that matter? Reader decide. Bendik Giske, above, photo: press, plays the ICA London on 6 October

Tags: Reviews

Denny Zeitlin, Crazy Rhythm: Exploring George Gershwin, Sunnyside ****

An any-time-of-the-day, any-season-of-the-year kind of record. Given how significant the music of George Gershwin is still felt on jazz today - meaning you hear Gershwin compositions played a lot even on this side of the Atlantic when sometimes the …

Published: 11 Jul 2023. Updated: 11 months.

Next post

An any-time-of-the-day, any-season-of-the-year kind of record. Given how significant the music of George Gershwin is still felt on jazz today - meaning you hear Gershwin compositions played a lot even on this side of the Atlantic when sometimes the magnetic pull of the Great American Songbook isn't as strong as it once was in terms of next generation players' repertoire - it's surprisingly novel that a solo live piano album of Gershwin classics doesn't come along more often.

Zeitlin, last on our radar circa the cherishable Live at Mezzrow, distinguishes himself by playing matters down quite a lot here, in other words he avoids being grandiose unless he has to give the piece a more expansive scenic treatment and he avoids being giddy or throwaway. Instead there is a contentment and at easeness to 'By Strauss' and a perkiness to 'Swonderful'. Adjectives for each track are available - you can probably provide your own just as meaningfully when you hear what's lined up.

Opening it seems obviously but not at all yawningly with 'Summertime,' our favourite rendition here is 'I Was Doing All Right'. Most pieces are kept relatively brief except the more epic length of 'My Man's Gone Now'. Zeitlin, a psychiatrist as well as a fine player whose discography is substantial and well worth dipping into (if new even after all this time) to him, recorded Crazy Rhythm: Exploring George Gershwin on San Pablo Avenue in Oakland at the Piedmont Piano Company five years ago, a piano retailer that also hosts concerts. Next month among the mouth watering line-up are Michael Wolff, Dena De Rose and Tierney Sutton with come the autumn Helen Sung and Alan Broadbent planned to give you an idea of the curatorial approach. A treat for the Gershwin lover in your life, just about everyone into jazz has some kind of relationship and stored memory however third party with this great American composer. We think back to Gershwin's World Herbie Hancock's superb Robert Sadin produced celebration from the late-1990s and select it as a follow- up listen to extend the happiness this album provides. Overall pick is the airiness found on 'Bess You Is My Woman Now' but it's the all the time in the world touch that frames the narrative so convincingly way beyond the literal matter of factness of interpretation or the distance of the years that notions of nostalgia may or may not elide.