Release Date: 15 January 2016
Label: ECM Records
Packaging Type: Jewel Case
No of Units: 1
Barcode: 602547593931
Genres: Jazz  Contemporary  
Release Date: 15 January 2016
Label: ECM Records
Packaging Type: Jewel Case
No of Units: 1
Barcode: 602547593931
Genres: Jazz  Contemporary  
Description
After two exemplary ECM discs in the company of Andy Sheppard, Michel Benita has an album with his own group, Ethics, marking his label debut as a leader.
The Ethics band is international, and the Algiers-born bassist leads a line-up comprised of a flugelhornist from Fribourg, Switzerland, a koto player from Tokyo, a guitarist from Drøbak, Norway, and a French drummer who once lived in Turkey as a member of the Istanbul Symphony. The group's music, correspondingly, flows - like the glistening river of the title - beyond borders.
Alongside his own compositions and a piece by Mieko Miyazaki, Benita includes a tune from Northumbrian piper Kathryn Tickell and one from Norwegian composer and organist Eyvind Alnæs (1872-1932). A strongly lyrical tendency prevails, Mathieu Michel's graceful flugelhorn foregrounded, with koto, bass and drums interacting creatively at the band's core. Colours of folk and colours of jazz are blended in Michel Benita's writing, multi-idiomatic in a very natural way. Eivind Aarset's guitars and what Benita calls "organic electronics" gently envelop the music. The whole sound-picture is finely-realized in the responsive acoustics of the Auditorio Stelio Molo RSI, Lugano, where 'River Silver' was recorded in April 2015, with Manfred Eicher producing.
Benita favours long-term musical associations. Ethics has existed for five years already, with unchanged personnel and the players in the group have also collaborated in other contexts. Michel Benita and Eivind Aarset work regularly together in Andy Sheppard's quartet – as on the critically-acclaimed album 'Surrounded By Sea' – and the guitarist is also a member of a quintet led by Matthieu Michel. Matthieu has also worked with Michel Benita in bands large and small, while Benita and drummer Philippe Garcia have also often worked in tandem, and appear together on recordings of, for instance, trumpeter Erik Truffaz.
Tracklisting
Tord Gustavsen; Harald Johnsen; Jarle Vespestad
Wolfgang Muthspiel; Scott Colley; Brian Blade
Maxim Rysanov; Dasol Kim; Roman Mints; Kristina Blaumane; BBC Concert Orchestra; Dobrinka Tabakova
John Taylor; Marc Johnson; Joey Baron
Vox Clamantis; Ene Salumae; Jaan-Eik Tulve
Rolf Lislevand
Keith Jarrett; Gary Peacock; Paul Motian
Signum Quartett
Alan Barnes Quartet
Fred Hersch Trio
NOAH PREMINGER
Yakir Arbib & Conti Bilong
Samuel Blaser
Anne Paceo
Robert Mitchell
Gregory Groover Jr.