Jimmy Bennington Colour and Sound

This excellent 2005 session was first issued in small quantities about 18 months ago but is now being made more widely available only now. There's a 35 year age gap between Priester and Bennington, but they play like soul twins. Priester has covered pretty much every wharf on the waterfront- he has played with ensembles as varied as Duke Ellington and Sunn 0))), Bo Diddley and Sun Ra, Lionel Hampton and Herbie Hancock- and he relates some of his history on the final track. Bennington can't quite match that range, but he studied with Elvin Jones for eight years and was his manager for the end of that period. There's an intimacy and a reflective quality throughout these trombone and percussion duets, even in the less tranquil or more abstract passages, and the old cliche about music as conversation is particularly appropriate here. The best music reveals its treasures gradually, and so far each hearing of Portraits and Silhouettes (ThatSwan!) has disclosed additional things of value.
- Barry Witherden, The Wire, June 2009 - The Wire

This excellent 2005 session was first issued in small quantities about 18 months ago but is now being made more widely available only now. There's a 35 year age gap between Priester and Bennington, but they play like soul twins. Priester has covered pretty much every wharf on the waterfront- he has played with ensembles as varied as Duke Ellington and Sunn 0))), Bo Diddley and Sun Ra, Lionel Hampton and Herbie Hancock- and he relates some of his history on the final track. Bennington can't quite match that range, but he studied with Elvin Jones for eight years and was his manager for the end of that period. There's an intimacy and a reflective quality throughout these trombone and percussion duets, even in the less tranquil or more abstract passages, and the old cliche about music as conversation is particularly appropriate here. The best music reveals its treasures gradually, and so far each hearing of Portraits and Silhouettes (ThatSwan!) has disclosed additional things of value.
- Barry Witherden, The Wire, June 2009 - The Wire

"...experiments with the below the skin deep beauty music has always had, but which few artists have been daring enough to delve into." - The Muses Muse

"...experiments with the below the skin deep beauty music has always had, but which few artists have been daring enough to delve into." - The Muses Muse

Another Friend: The Music of Herbie Nichols
Jimmy Bennington Trio | ThatSwan! Records (2007)


By Jakob Baekgaard

The music of pianist and composer Herbie Nichols (1919-1963) has experienced something a renaissance in recent years. This is, in no small part, due to the tireless work of trombonist Roswell Rudd, who has recorded his compositions and published the book Herbie Nichols: The Unpublished Works (2000), containing 27 of Nichols' compositions.

Thus, thanks to the work of Rudd, drummer Jimmy Bennington and his trio have been able to record a tribute album to Nichols: Another Friend: The Music of Herbie Nichols, consisting almost entirely of forgotten compositions by this neglected master. This also means that one won't find any of the tunes that Nichols recorded on the Blue Note and Bethlehem labels between May 1955 and November 1957, with the sole exception of "House Party Starting," which can be heard on the box set The Complete Studio Master Takes (Lonehill, 2005).

With the exception of "House Party Starting" there's no way to know how Nichols would have tackled the material himself. What's remains, of course, is an interpretation. Nevertheless, comparing the two versions of "House Party Starting" shows how the trio is both faithful towards Nichols while, at the same time, taking the music into new, dark corners.

While both Bennington and bassist Michael Bisio do a solid job, the spotlight naturally falls on pianist David Haney, who superbly interprets Nichols' idiosyncratic style. Haney brings out the Monkish knottiness of Nichols' playing while also paying wide attention to the pianist's patented use of poetic space. It's a very modern Nichols heard in Haney's version, but also, paradoxically, an old-fashioned stylist where titles like "Old 52nd St. Rag" and "Twelve Bars" speak very clearly of where the music came from.

The peculiar mixture of something very old and dusty and still freshly modern is repeated not only in the playing but also in the recording. The whole album was taped as a radio-session and, while there are no crackles and pops to disturb the listening experience, it's not a hi-fi recording; instead the album has the patina of an old 78.

Nostalgic yet modern, outdated and still way of ahead of his time. The paradox of Nichols' artistry continues to live and this fine homage is a fitting introduction to his singular musical world. - AllAboutJazz- New York/ Jakob Baekgaard

Another Friend: The Music of Herbie Nichols
Jimmy Bennington Trio | ThatSwan! Records (2007)


By Jakob Baekgaard

The music of pianist and composer Herbie Nichols (1919-1963) has experienced something a renaissance in recent years. This is, in no small part, due to the tireless work of trombonist Roswell Rudd, who has recorded his compositions and published the book Herbie Nichols: The Unpublished Works (2000), containing 27 of Nichols' compositions.

Thus, thanks to the work of Rudd, drummer Jimmy Bennington and his trio have been able to record a tribute album to Nichols: Another Friend: The Music of Herbie Nichols, consisting almost entirely of forgotten compositions by this neglected master. This also means that one won't find any of the tunes that Nichols recorded on the Blue Note and Bethlehem labels between May 1955 and November 1957, with the sole exception of "House Party Starting," which can be heard on the box set The Complete Studio Master Takes (Lonehill, 2005).

With the exception of "House Party Starting" there's no way to know how Nichols would have tackled the material himself. What's remains, of course, is an interpretation. Nevertheless, comparing the two versions of "House Party Starting" shows how the trio is both faithful towards Nichols while, at the same time, taking the music into new, dark corners.

While both Bennington and bassist Michael Bisio do a solid job, the spotlight naturally falls on pianist David Haney, who superbly interprets Nichols' idiosyncratic style. Haney brings out the Monkish knottiness of Nichols' playing while also paying wide attention to the pianist's patented use of poetic space. It's a very modern Nichols heard in Haney's version, but also, paradoxically, an old-fashioned stylist where titles like "Old 52nd St. Rag" and "Twelve Bars" speak very clearly of where the music came from.

The peculiar mixture of something very old and dusty and still freshly modern is repeated not only in the playing but also in the recording. The whole album was taped as a radio-session and, while there are no crackles and pops to disturb the listening experience, it's not a hi-fi recording; instead the album has the patina of an old 78.

Nostalgic yet modern, outdated and still way of ahead of his time. The paradox of Nichols' artistry continues to live and this fine homage is a fitting introduction to his singular musical world. - AllAboutJazz- New York/ Jakob Baekgaard

Jimmy Bennington
Our Dialogue + Midnight Choir
(That Swan! + OA2)

by David Dupont
12 September 2005

One of the pleasures of reviewing is the constant discovery of new musicians emerging from all corners of the continent and abroad. Even when I have some choice of what I cover, I make a point of seeking out CDs issued by people unknown to me. Such was the case with these two items under drummer Jimmy Bennington’s name. In his mid-30s, he has resided in a few of those corners himself, having been born in Ohio, raised in Texas, and now living in Portland, Oregon. He does seem to have a way of fitting in.

He’s a most self-effacing sort of drummer. Even on Our Dialogue—a live duet date from July 27, 2004 with pianist David Haney—he only shines the spotlight on himself a couple times, with his set-ending solo on “The Gemini” being the one truly extended effort. That solo speaks volumes, even if much of it is delivered mezzo piano, about Bennington’s aesthetic. Though he starts with a high tight snare role that alludes to a march cadence, there’s nothing bombastic about his playing. Rather the solo spreads out across his set in a deliberate manner, always returning to that opening tattoo. It’s fitting that he gets in the last word, since throughout the session he defers to his partner.

Haney is yet another of those figures just off the horizon who suddenly seems everywhere. At the same time I got this I also received his duo session with Julian Priester on Cadence Jazz Records. Haney is a free stylist who seems as much speaking to himself, as if rehearsing thoughts he’s not quite ready to share. On the opening “Twelve Bars”, one of two Herbie Nichols compositions on the six-tune set, he seems to poke and prod at the piano, digging for the melody.

On the ballad “Susanna” he implies a chord progression, but the harmonies drift off course as they rise into the upper register. Bennington responds to his playing, more it seems than the pianist responds to his. On “Susanna”, Bennington softly roils the surface underneath the pianist’s eccentric chording. He grounds “Favorite Chairs” in a tumbling beat centered on a snare figure, with staggering bass drum and hi-hat accents and splashes from his cymbals. When he lays down a Latin beat on “Fatima, Mon Amor”, Haney sounds intent in not going along, hammering block chords at odds with it. The second Nichols composition, “Pretty Prancing Woman” gets a surprisingly straightforward reading with Haney staying in the neighborhood of the theme throughout and Bennington showing an understanding of the melodic function of percussion in Nichols’ work.

The second disc Midnight Choir dates back to 1996 and 1998. It apparently was released as a CD-R at some point before this 2003 OA2 Records edition. Recorded in Houston, Texas, it features Bennington with a small shifting cast of players. The core is a trio with bassist David Klingensmith and saxophonist Seth Paynter. Again, Bennington takes a back seat to his colleagues. Paynter contributes three originals, and outbound, Coltrane-inspired blowing. It’s Bennington who keeps the groove nailed down on “Equinox” and “Two Fascinations” as Paynter roars from mid-period Trane stylings to evocations of the master’s last days with bassist Klingensmith serving as his wingman. Paynter gives full expression to his inspiration on his own piece “Ganges”.

On two tracks trombonist Bruce Melville joins the band. The trombonist has a porous sound that exposes the sound of lips buzzing in the mouthpiece. He and Klingensmith provide a session highlight on “Two Fascinations” as they exchange phrases so tightly joined that they end up playing a climatic fragment in unison. The session closes with a trio, sans Paynter, but with pianist Joe Benjamin, who appears in a supporting role only on “Ganges”. The piano trio explores the many musical resources of Michel LeGrande’s ballad “What Are You Doing for the Rest of Your Life?”, a piece too little done. It also demonstrates, as does all the work here, what a fine and sensitive drummer James Bennington is.
- All About Jazz/ David DuPont 12 September 2005

Jimmy Bennington
Our Dialogue + Midnight Choir
(That Swan! + OA2)

by David Dupont
12 September 2005

One of the pleasures of reviewing is the constant discovery of new musicians emerging from all corners of the continent and abroad. Even when I have some choice of what I cover, I make a point of seeking out CDs issued by people unknown to me. Such was the case with these two items under drummer Jimmy Bennington’s name. In his mid-30s, he has resided in a few of those corners himself, having been born in Ohio, raised in Texas, and now living in Portland, Oregon. He does seem to have a way of fitting in.

He’s a most self-effacing sort of drummer. Even on Our Dialogue—a live duet date from July 27, 2004 with pianist David Haney—he only shines the spotlight on himself a couple times, with his set-ending solo on “The Gemini” being the one truly extended effort. That solo speaks volumes, even if much of it is delivered mezzo piano, about Bennington’s aesthetic. Though he starts with a high tight snare role that alludes to a march cadence, there’s nothing bombastic about his playing. Rather the solo spreads out across his set in a deliberate manner, always returning to that opening tattoo. It’s fitting that he gets in the last word, since throughout the session he defers to his partner.

Haney is yet another of those figures just off the horizon who suddenly seems everywhere. At the same time I got this I also received his duo session with Julian Priester on Cadence Jazz Records. Haney is a free stylist who seems as much speaking to himself, as if rehearsing thoughts he’s not quite ready to share. On the opening “Twelve Bars”, one of two Herbie Nichols compositions on the six-tune set, he seems to poke and prod at the piano, digging for the melody.

On the ballad “Susanna” he implies a chord progression, but the harmonies drift off course as they rise into the upper register. Bennington responds to his playing, more it seems than the pianist responds to his. On “Susanna”, Bennington softly roils the surface underneath the pianist’s eccentric chording. He grounds “Favorite Chairs” in a tumbling beat centered on a snare figure, with staggering bass drum and hi-hat accents and splashes from his cymbals. When he lays down a Latin beat on “Fatima, Mon Amor”, Haney sounds intent in not going along, hammering block chords at odds with it. The second Nichols composition, “Pretty Prancing Woman” gets a surprisingly straightforward reading with Haney staying in the neighborhood of the theme throughout and Bennington showing an understanding of the melodic function of percussion in Nichols’ work.

The second disc Midnight Choir dates back to 1996 and 1998. It apparently was released as a CD-R at some point before this 2003 OA2 Records edition. Recorded in Houston, Texas, it features Bennington with a small shifting cast of players. The core is a trio with bassist David Klingensmith and saxophonist Seth Paynter. Again, Bennington takes a back seat to his colleagues. Paynter contributes three originals, and outbound, Coltrane-inspired blowing. It’s Bennington who keeps the groove nailed down on “Equinox” and “Two Fascinations” as Paynter roars from mid-period Trane stylings to evocations of the master’s last days with bassist Klingensmith serving as his wingman. Paynter gives full expression to his inspiration on his own piece “Ganges”.

On two tracks trombonist Bruce Melville joins the band. The trombonist has a porous sound that exposes the sound of lips buzzing in the mouthpiece. He and Klingensmith provide a session highlight on “Two Fascinations” as they exchange phrases so tightly joined that they end up playing a climatic fragment in unison. The session closes with a trio, sans Paynter, but with pianist Joe Benjamin, who appears in a supporting role only on “Ganges”. The piano trio explores the many musical resources of Michel LeGrande’s ballad “What Are You Doing for the Rest of Your Life?”, a piece too little done. It also demonstrates, as does all the work here, what a fine and sensitive drummer James Bennington is.
- All About Jazz/ David DuPont 12 September 2005