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Kind: News, Opinion Music Genre: Avant-garde Categories: Entertainment, Arts, Culture, Music Published: October 25, 2009

Ben Monder & Bill McHenry: Bloom

By DIETRICH MATTHÄUS

There are still some who claim jazz needs to be a rhythm section oriented art. Although a swing - or at least some groove - oriented foundation has been the core for this homegrown American art music since the times of New Orleans, it has been opened up into incorporating any influences. These influences are sometimes closer to the tradition, such as in the case of blues, gospel or why not impressionism, or more distant as in metallic avant-garde, new age or some sort of early renaissance vocal direction. Bloom (Blue Music Group, 2009) by guitarist Ben Monder and saxophonist Bill McHenry belongs to the latter category, and the jazz element may be difficult to distinguish here, since the sounds are based on mood music, lots of distorted guitar and semi-random runs on the saxophone. Free jazz, as understood by John Coltrane, is not much present, and makes one believe this album belongs to an orphan style or a somewhat short-lived trend.

Both Monder and McHenry are established - even famous - jazz musicians living in New York. They often tour Europe with various groups, lead by drummer Paul Motian, for instance. On Bloom, there is some Motian influence in this music, and at times it excessively sounds like the Paul Motian Trio with Bill Frisell and Joe Lovano, but minus Motian himself. Especially with McHenry this phenomenon is a somewhat problematic element, unfortunately not limited to this release. Monder, who has often been noted to be a highly skillful and original musician with his own group and a good guitar player when a sideman, finds himself caught somewhere in the middle, probably more as himself after all. In this respect, McHenry becomes an instrumentalist replacing the frequent Monder collaborator, multi-faceted vocalist Theo Bleckmann, and again puts McHenry in a position where he in spite of his instrument becomes a sideman in this duo situation. Both men are credited as composers on all tracks, but the direction of the music is largely conducted by Monder, and McHenry is a follower who listens to Monder's innovative chords and plays whatever fits the context. That may explain why it is so hard to remember any melodies from the fifty-four minutes in spite of the songs having a strong mood, often of a relaxing and wee-hour character.

Both of these artists have made several recordings which have been better prepared. Monder's "Excavation" on Sunnyside Records is a masterpiece and he plays enjoyably as a sideman on several recent releases. McHenry's "featuring Paul Motian" on Fresh Sound Records is also very nice, and his contributions with others are good, although sometimes I get the feeling he doesn't care about the results, and has more of a "first-take truth" attitude no matter what. It is actually this attitude which is overly present on Bloom as well. The album would have been far more successful if both the music and the production had been done with more care and dedication instead of too much of the nowadays popular zen attitude, which in my opinion is easily misunderstood. The music on Bloom would serve a live concert audience very well, and the duo would make a great feature for European jazz festivals, which are looking for smaller, intimate, and new acts for their ever-tighter budgets.

bloom.bluemusicgroup.com

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