Ben Monder is undoubtedly one of the world’s finest musicians. He started playing guitar when he was 11, after 2 years on violin. He attended the Westchester Conservatory of Music, the University of Miami, and Queens College. One of his early gigs was performing with Jack McDuff in 1986. He has lived in NYC for years and recorded on a huge number of albums as a sideman. Importantly, he has maintained a distilled set of releases as a leader. His technique is incredibly evolved, as is his rhythmic concept and compositional voice, and he is feared amongst the guitar community.

I first heard about Ben whilst living in Edinburgh in around 2006. My guitarist friends Ben MacDonald, Mike Nisbet and bassist Kevin Glasgow passed a CD of the ‘Oceana’ album around and we talked about the album a lot. We loved it but we didn’t really knew what was going on, in terms of the musical mechanics.

A few years later I went to live in NYC for a season and had some lessons with Ben. My musicianship had developed a bit since the Edinburgh days and this was my opportunity to ask him about his music. Often the answer to questions like “How did you discover that this particular bitonality would work so well and how did you come up with this melodic concept?” would be something like “I thought it sounded cool.”. It was also funny because I was asking him about pieces like “Dust” which he could barely remember because they were already nearly 20 years old! We’ve kept in touch a little and I had a couple of lessons on Skype once I had relocated to London.

Many artists seem to plateau after a while, to “coast” – Ben is NOT one of these. He continues to surprise me. One of the most surprising things to happen was when he recorded on David Bowie’s final album. I initially thought this was some kind of joke/hoax… Ben is such a character that there are internet communities dedicated to “Monder memes” and this sounded like one of them – but it wasn’t! It was a beautiful and rare musical alignment. If you’re new to Ben I hope you find something you like here. If you’re already aware of him, hopefully there are a couple of things you haven’t yet discovered… 

1. Still Motion (‘Oceana’)

When I first heard this my ears pricked up – “Ok Ben, you have my attention!”. I hope it has the same effect and intrigues YOU dear reader… It’s the opener on ‘Oceana’ – the first album I heard. One of the best things about Ben is his ability to create entirely new worlds, free of cliche and somehow free of musical “genre”. With just one acoustic guitar and scary technique Ben creates beautiful, incredibly dense texture for 7 minutes. It gives the feeling of fast motion, and also stillness – it’s mesmerising and meditative. The story goes Ben drank 7 cups of coffee before recording the take! If you can listen this album in one sitting, this track will help you clear your mind for what’s to come…

2. In Your Own Sweet Way (Jochen Rueckert ‘Introduction’)

This might be closer to what many people would expect from a “jazz guitarist”. First we hear Ben comping softly behind the melody with his identifiable very dark sound. Before the melody is finished we already notice some lush chords and countermelodies. Harmony nerds will appreciate the voice-leading. Ben takes the first solo, beginning with explicit development of a simple theme – one of his trademarks. Despite the 5/4 time signature Ben finds ways to syncopate and remain rhythmically free.

3. Oceana (Oceana)

Now that you’ve been inducted, let’s get into it! We plunge into the depths of Ben’s weird, adventurous world and explore it for 17 minutes. I would be surprised if most readers have ever heard anything quite like this before. Ben has a range of composition al aesthetics but this feels like it’s right in the centre. Dense, tangled, melodies evolve into brittle, dissonant chords strummed with an almost folky glee. If you want more of this, skip to track 6 on this album for another epic…

4 You Are My Sunshine (Excavation)

This considerably more “friendly” track closes Ben’s 2000 album “Excavation”. It’s another rare example of Ben playing steel string acoustic guitar, and an even rarer example of him using some percussive extended techniques at the beginning. Later on we hear the rewards of a life devoted to harmonic exploration – gorgeous “new” harmonisations of this classic melody.

5. Pithecanthropus Erectus (Paul Motian Band ‘Garden Of Eden’)

Choosing one track from this album wasn’t easy (“Etude” is another favourite). But I think it’s important to recognise these musicians are reaching further out into the ether than most. To my ear this is what Mingus often did. This is especially interesting music for guitar players/lovers, because there are 3 guitarists on this music. Steve Cardenas is panned left, Jakob Bro is on the right, and Ben is in the middle.

6 Double Sun (Oceana)

I love this piece so much. But I had no idea of the can of worms I was opening trying to understand the musical nuts and bolts of it. Listen hard and you’ll hear two rhythmic cycles moving against each other, aligning only fleetingly. You’ll also hear two tonal centres (initially C low down and A/F#minor up above) rubbing against each other. The two musical themes working with AND against each other represent two suns, exerting their gravitational force on us. A beautiful, strange feeling.

7. Luteous Pangolin (Excavation)

I love this piece. There are clear, soulful melodies AND the harmony is so emotive. Check those chords at 1:50 out – ooft! Ben’s solo once again is a great example of his clear development of simple ideas.

8. There Is Always One You Follow (This World Of Dew)

Another intriguing piece from a REALLY intriguing album. Here Ben collaborates with Aaron Shragge who plays shakuhachi and trumpet. Enjoy the spaces they create.

8. Late By Myself (At Night)

This is not Ben playing sarod – although it REALLY sounds like it. Ben listens to plenty of Indian music. Whilst the melodies at the beginning are not highly ornamented, you can hear the influence of sarod players especially. The main winding melody sounds as if it could be derived from an ancient raga. Long-time collaborator Theo Bleckmann sings poetry by Rumi and we gradually descend into a vast and dark universe.

9. Gemini (Dust)

This trio tune contains some great moments. Ben is practically breaking the fourth wall at a few points… We’re getting an insight into his dry sense of humour – I laughed out loud when I first listened to this. I won’t ruin the surprise but if you’re in a hurry you could listen from around 3 minutes. There are majestic arco melodies from Ben Street and a savage, chromatic, Meshuggah-esque guitar solo. What’s not to like?

10. Charlotte’s Song (Hydra)

Ben crafts the musical “shape” of his albums very thoughtfully and carefully. This pretty song is the closer on ‘Hydra’ and is a nice way for us to finish too. It’s a musical setting of Charlotte’s lullaby to Wilber (the pig!) in the classic book Charlotte’s Web. Theo Bleckmann sings beautifully again here.

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I hope you enjoy this music as much as I do. There’s so much I could not include, and I implore you to explore the work of this astounding (and totally uncompromising) artist. Listen with open ears. And please do leave comments below with your own thoughts and feelings – there are no wrong answers.

The post 10 Tracks I Can’t Do Without: Ben Monder first appeared on UK Jazz News.

Pat Martino was one of the greatest who ever lived. As is evident from the tributes which are emerging by the hundred, including from some of the greatest living guitarists. I’m no biographer, but Pat has been a tremendous influence on me, and I humbly offer my own small tribute here.

The first Martino tune I ever heard was ‘Mac Tough’ – played not by Pat himself but by some musicians in Edinburgh, including Kevin Glasgow on bass and the late Bill Kyle on drums. I asked them “What was that tune?”, and the response was a baffled “Wow, you don’t know Pat Martino? OK you REALLY need to check him out…”.

This led to me checking out ‘Live at Yoshi’s’, ‘El Hombre’ and a compilation called ‘Impressions’, and learning much of what Pat played on these albums note for note. There definitely aren’t many jazz guitarists whose own compositions make it into the jazz clubs of Scotland.

Now, in 2021, as we notice hundreds and hundreds of new jazz albums emerging every year (every month even…), these albums in particular serve as a reminder of everything that is great about jazz. They are deeply groovy. They are deeply soulful. They are FULL of blues. There’s a ferocity and excitement from the rhythm sections – take Billy (Hart) & Joey (DeFrancesco) – WOW! There is huge warmth in the melodies and improvisations. There’s a fearlessness and meteoric velocity to Pat’s lines. Many modern improvisers play with a swagger, often very behind the beat. But Pat could sometimes be VERY in front of the beat, giving the feeling of acceleration and excitement.

His guitar sound is big and thick, in part due to him using extremely high gauge strings. The thickness of these strings means they are also incredibly tight – so nearly all guitarists wince at the mention of a “15” as the high E string. Yet, despite his guitar being strung up with these (which could suspend a small lift), Pat got around the neck with incredible virtuosity. Martino (who preceded Metheny) hugely influenced the sonic characteristics of every living jazz guitar player, whether they like it, whether they admit it, or whether they are even aware of it or not. It’s built into the DNA of jazz guitar at this point. Pat also came up with many of the greatest jazz guitar licks ever, including this one (a 6-note lick, NOT 3!)

If anyone had somehow forgotten how great he was, there was the Gene Ludwig bootleg (entitled ‘Young Guns’) that emerged in 2014 – a reminder of just how incredible he was to anyone (myself included) who had been paying attention to younger players.

Pat to me also exemplified one of the most important things artists should do – to experiment and push themselves into unknown territory – take ‘Joyous Lake’ or ‘Baiyina’ for example.

Perhaps most importantly there’s the very sad but ultimately inspiring story of his near-fatal aneurysm, and his gradual – and unbelievable!!! – recovery from it. In short he suffered from severe amnesia and had to relearn nearly everything he knew about guitar and music. This is the reason for the gap in his discography of nearly 10 years. His first album after the hiatus was entitled ‘The Return’. To me, his plight is a lesson in patience.

So it is with great sadness that we say goodbye to Pat. The recordings he made are some of the greatest ever, and we will continue to treasure them. On behalf of my 6-string-slinging brothers and sisters everywhere – Thanks for everything, Pat!

Patrick Carmen Azzara (Pat Martino)
Born Philadelphia, 25 August 25, 1944. Died Philadelphia, November 1, 2021

The post RIP Pat Martino (1944-2021) first appeared on UK Jazz News.