Posts
I ran across Ben Van Gelder, who was only 18 at the time, about a year ago while perusing MySpace. Ben was still in Holland then but had plans to move to New York City the following year. I listened to the tracks on his page and was pretty impressed with his maturity. He was coming out of the Konitz thing, interesting lines, straighter 8th note time feel, and a dry but nice sound. I played his music for a couple of my high-school students, hoping to scare them into practicing harder.
Now at the ripe old age of 19 Ben is living in NYC and studying at the New School. He seems to have moved away from Konitz lately, now sounding a bit more modern. I can definately hear Dave Binney's influence. He's already working with Winard Harper, Dave Binney, Jean Michel Pilc and Ari Honig at clubs like Dizzy's Coca Cola, 55 Bar, the Jazz Gallery, and Sweet Rhythm.
We'll be hearing more from Ben in the future.
Ben Van Gelder's MySpace page
Ben Van Gelder- live tracks
3 comments:
Mr. Valdez,
Do you know what David Murray plays in Blue Monk (cd with Aki Takase)? Did he use some eletronics?
I don't, sorry.
I'm not sure what this comment has to do with Ben Van Gelder, but I looked it up on the Enja website. David Murray plays Tenor Sax and Bass Clarinet on that album. I would imagine that if it's some odd sounding stuff, it's probably bass clarinet, an instrument on which our man is a master of the "odd" sound.
Post a Comment