CD ECM Records Ben Monder, Pete Rende, Andrew Cyrille, Paul Motian: Amorphae

2016

Ben Monder - chitara electrica
Pete Rende - sintetizator
Andrew Cyrille - tobe
Paul Motian - tobe

Guitarist Ben Monder first recorded for ECM as a member of the Paul Motian Band on “Garden of Eden” in 2004, and Amorphae was originally conceived as a series of duets for Ben and Paul. A first exploratory duo session was recorded in 2010. After Motian’s death the following year it was decided to expand and complete the project with another highly influential and innovative drummer, Andrew Cyrille, adding also Pete Rende on synthesizer on two pieces. So here we hear Monder solo, in duo with Motian, in duo with Cyrille, and in trio with Cyrille and Rende. This range of expressive options casts light upon Monder’s musical concepts and their adaptability. A guitarist’s guitarist, Monder’s also a master of texture and unusual voicings, creating what one reviewer has called “detailed sonic landscapes of mystery and power”. All the music on Amorphae is his, apart from “Oh, What a Beautiful Mornin’”, the Rodgers & Hammerstein chestnut from the musical Oklahoma!, performed here by Monder and Motian.

* * *

Ben Monder may be the most listened to jazz guitarist at the moment, thanks to his being on David Bowie’s swansong, ‘Blackstar’. […] It’s clear here why Monder’s playing appealed to Bowie: he uses his electric guitar to create otherworldly, sometimes disturbing, soundscapes, some of which even have sci-fi titles such as ‘Gamma Crucis’ and ‘Triffids’. What melody there is serves as a basis for free improvisation, heavy on the reverb. It has the intensity of hard rock, yet the mood is ponderous, abstract and hazy.
Chris Pearson, The Times

Monder does wonders with fretboard textures throughout […] The drummers provide spatial effects more than time-based accompaniments while Monder explores the sonic range of his instruments (including an electric baritone). The results are highly atmospheric.
Robert Shore, Jazzwise