Adam Benjamin

Manzanita Quintet: Osmosis

by Dan McClenaghan
February 9, 2023

The tried and true quintet formation, set in stone by alto saxophonist Charlie Parker and trumpeter Dizzy Gillespie in the late 1940s, is back in 2022 with the Reno, Nevada-based Manzanita Quintet. So how do they give a fresh shine to a sound that could be considered “done to death?" On Osmosis the guys go at it with some fresh compositions, four by the group's bassist, Hans Halt, two more from their saxophonist, Peter Epstein, one from ...

Kneebody: Chapters

by Emmanuel Di Tommaso
May 26, 2020

Chapters è il nono disco in studio degli americani Kneebody, il quartetto fondato nel 2001 fra le aule della Eastman School of Music di Rochester dagli allora studenti Adam Benjamin, Ben Wendel, Shane Endsley e Kaveh Rastegar, a cui si aggiunse successivamente Nate Wood. A tre anni dal solido Anti-Hero, un disco rassicurante nella misura in cui i Kneebody facevano esattamente ciò che sanno fare senza particolari stravolgimenti, questo album pubblicato dalla Edition Records riserva numerose sorprese. Ormai riconosciuti da ...

Kneebody: Chapters

by Mike Jacobs
December 10, 2019

Chapters--the title of Kneebody's 2019 release--has a certain appropriateness, as it definitely marks several new ones for the band. One being that lyric-oriented songs account for nearly half of the material on the album. Technically, vocals are nothing new to Kneebody. The band included one track with vocals on their 2002 proto-Kneebody album Wendel. Its 2009 collaborative effort with Theo Bleckmann, Twelve Songs of Charles Ives (Winter and Winter, 2008) was nominated for a Grammy and indeed their recent EP ...

Dave Douglas and Keystone: Moonshine

by Matthew Miller
August 30, 2008

Dave Douglas is not your typical iconoclast. The progressive trumpeter--a mainstay of John Zorn's Masada and more typically avant-garde groups--favors an understated upheaval in his efforts as a leader, courting, in the words of writer Andy Battaglia “tradition and progression without puzzling over the difference." On Moonshine, his second album with Keystone, a sextet featuring Marcus Strickland (saxophone), Adam Benjamin (Fender Rhodes), Brad Jones (bass), Gene Lake (drums) and DJ Olive (turntables and laptop), Douglas once again focuses his modernist ...

Dave Douglas & Keystone: Moonshine

by Mark F. Turner
May 29, 2008

As one of jazz's most omnivorous thinkers, trumpeter/composer Dave Douglas continues to explore ideas outside of the norm. Moonshine is a continuation with Keystone--an electric sextet that includes Marcus Strickland (saxophones), Adam Benjamin (Fender Rhodes), Brad Jones (bass), Gene Lake (drums), and DJ Olive (turntables)--exploring in music, the life and art of 1920s silent film actor/director Roscoe “Fatty" Arbuckle, whose career was abruptly ended when he was falsely accused of murder. Whether or not Douglas' odd juxtaposition ...

Dave Douglas & Keystone: Moonshine

by John Kelman
December 7, 2007

It's unlikely that Dave Douglas expected the Grammy-nominated Keystone (Greenleaf Music, 2005) to turn into an ongoing project, but as a parallel to his quintet of the past half decade, the trumpeter has forged a distinct entity with the group he now calls Keystone. This sextet shares some commonality with the quintet responsible for Meaning and Mystery (Greenleaf, 2006), but there are just as many differences, if not more. Moonshine affirms that Keystone is a band with a very different ...

Dave Douglas: Keystone Live in Sweden

by John Kelman
October 4, 2006

In the early days of silent film, scores were played live, most often by a single musician--simplifying the response to the on-screen activities. In recent years artists like guitarist Bill Frisell and clarinetist Louis Sclavis have upped the ante by combining composed music with improvisation on silent film scores for small ensembles, making the coordination of sight and sound much more challenging.

Trumpeter Dave Douglas' Keystone (Greenleaf, 2005) is another contemporary entry, a two-disc release including a DVD of the ...