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| 1. | Within Reach
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| 2. | Escondido
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| 3. | Inside the Shadows ()
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| 4. | ATMA
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| 5. | Ours Again
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| 6. | The Jewel in the Lotus
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| 7. | Black Ice
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| 8. | Tears
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| 9. | Not Later Than Now
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| 10. | Early Reflections
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| 11. | Inner Sky
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| 12. | Prophet's Motifs
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| 13. | Spirits of the Tatras
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Jazz
Michal Baranski - bass
Bennie Maupin - Woodwinds: alto flute, bass clarinet, soprano saxophone, tenor saxophone
Hania Chowaniec-Rybka - voice
Michal Tokaj - piano
Lukasz Zyta - drums, percussion
Woodwind legend Bennie Maupin, best known for his work with Miles Davis, Herbie Hancock, Horace Silver, The Headhunters, and many others, follows his highly acclaimed 2006 CD Penumbra, with Early Reflections, a beautiful recording of Maupin s European quartet featuring pianist Michal Tokaj (Tomasz Stanko), and guest vocalist Hania Rybka. Early Reflections features a brilliant new version of Maupin's classic composition, The Jewel in the Lotus.
Reviews
The veteran Detroit-born multi-reedman Bennie Maupin has been criminally under-recorded as a leader with just five previous albums under his own name in the last 35 years. But Maupin, whose sinewy bass clarinet solos helped define Miles Davis' landmark fusion album, "Bitches Brew," and who spent most of the '70s riding shotgun with Herbie Hancock, appears to have found a champion in Cryptogramophone, a boutique label based in Los Angeles.
"Early Reflections" (*** out of four stars, to be released on April 22) is a follow-up to the excellent "Penumbra" from 2006. Maupin is joined by a core quartet of Polish musicians with whom he has developed a rewarding affinity through frequent European sojourns. Based on a collectivist spirit, the music rejects standard melody-solos-melody structures for a brushstroke flow of color, textures, dialogue and modal improvisation. Short, sketch-like compositions give way to more expansive floats of lyricism.
Maupin's circular tenor patterns on "Within Reach" wander languidly through Michal Tokaj's gentle chordal landscapes, bassist Michal Baranski and drummer Lukasz Zyta twitching alongside. Much of the music whispers, and whether Maupin is playing tenor or soprano saxophone, bass clarinet or alto flute, his playing is defined by patience. Even when things heat up, as on "The Jewel and the Lotus," Maupin's best-known composition, arranged here as a swirling, Coltrane-like waltz over an infectious vamp, Maupin's soprano retains a wailing poise.
---Mark Stryker, Detroit Free Press [4/1/08]
Bennie Maupin's Cryptogramophone label follow-up CD to Penumbra both parallels and provides a departure from that excellent effort. What is similar is the softer tone Maupin is displaying in his far post-Headhunters days, refined by experience and cured though wisdom. The music Maupin plays on this beautiful effort is even more subdued, as he collaborates with an ensemble of relatively unknown musicians from Poland. If you've been hearing recent efforts from Polish trumpeter Tomasz Stanko and his ECM recordings with the teenage pianist Marcin Wasilewski and his trio, you hear stark similarities. But further, the recently reissued Maupin epic Jewel in the Lotus, which was also on ECM, is quite different than this ECM sounding project. Old may in fact be new again in some respects, but in this case, new is really new. Maupin offers so much appealing music within the undercurrent, starting with the delicate but paced "Black Ice" and the waltzing title track with Maupin on soprano sax. Separate flute and piano lines are woven into a more somber waltz "Tears," or the sparse, spacy, long "Spirits of the Tatras" with dynamics patiently rendered up and down with lots of piano from Michal Tokaj, who rivals the crystalline musings of Wasilewski on the entire album. Of course, the piece de resistance is Maupin's hearty, throaty, bass clarinet work, a sound all anticipate in live or studio performances. The repeated lines during "Escondido" and brash, unpredictable sounds on the outstanding "Prophet's Motifs" urged on by the precise clockwork drumming of Lukasz Zyta makes musical common sense. It is the tenor sax of Maupin that is perhaps the most understated of all his instruments during the duet with Tokaj on "Ours Again," and the carefully constructed, pensive "Inner Sky." There's also a recapitulation of "Jewel in the Lotus" which exudes more energy and audio excitement, especially on Maupin's second soprano solo. One has to always wonder if Maupin has a magnum opus within him, and this comes close, for it is certainly his most introspective, reflective, and inner spirit-directed effort in a long and varied career playing progressive jazz.
---Thom Jurek, All Music Guide [4/14/08]
Bennie Maupin is best known for his atmospheric bass clarinet playing on Miles Davis' classic Bitches Brew album, as well as other Miles Davis recordings such as, Big Fun, Jack Johnson, and On the Corner. He was a founding member of Herbie Hancock's seminal band The Headhunters, as well as a performer and composer in Hancock's influential Mwandishi band.
Born in 1940, Maupin started playing clarinet, later adding saxophone, flute and, most notably, the bass clarinet to his formidable arsenal of woodwind instruments. Upon moving to New York in 1962, he freelanced with groups led by Marion Brown, Pharoah Saunders, and Chick Corea, and played regularly with Roy Haynes and Horace Silver. He also recorded with McCoy Tyner, Lee Morgan, Freddie Hubbard, Jack DeJohnette, Andrew Hill, Eddie Henderson, and Woody Shaw to name only a few. Maupin's own discography as a leader includes a well-received recording for ECM Records, The Jewel in The Lotus (1974), Slow Traffic to the Right (1976), Moonscapes both on Mercury Records (1978), and Driving While Black on Intuition, (1998).
The instrumentation of Maupin's current group The Bennie Maupin Ensemble, harkens back to the tradition of great saxophone-bass-drum trios, such as the group led by Sonny Rollins with Wilbur Ware and Elvin Jones. While echoes of the great John Coltrane can be heard in Maupin's work, one can also discern the influences of Yusef Lateef, Sonny Rollins, and Eric Dolphy, as well as Maupin's contemporaries like Wayne Shorter and the late Joe Henderson. Maupin's approach to his music is intentional and profound, yet alive in the interpretation of the moment. He maintains active performing and teaching careers in Europe, and the US. Bennie Maupin currently resides in the Los Angeles area.
Bennie Maupin
Active Decades: '70s, '80s, '90s and '00s
Born: Aug 29, 1940 in Detroit, MI
Genre: Jazz
Styles: Avant-Garde, Free Jazz, Fusion, Hard Bop, Modal Music, Post-Bop
Bennie Maupin is best-known for his association with Herbie Hancock and his atmospheric bass clarinet playing on Miles Davis' classic Bitches Brew album. Maupin started playing tenor in high school and attended the Detroit Institute for Musical Arts, playing locally in Detroit. He moved to New York in 1963, freelancing with many groups, including ones led by Marion Brown and Pharoah Sanders. Maupin played regularly with Roy Haynes (1966-1968) and Horace Silver (1968-1969), recording with McCoy Tyner (1968), Lee Morgan (1970), and Woody Shaw. After recording with Miles, he joined the Herbie Hancock Sextet. When Hancock broke up his group to form the more commercial Headhunters in 1973, Maupin was the only holdover. He led dates for ECM (1974) and a commercial one for Mercury (1976-1977), but failed to catch on as a bandleader and has maintained a low profile during the past 15 years, emerging in 2006 with the critically acclaimed Penumbra on the Cryptogramophone label. Early Reflections followed two years later.
---Scott Yanow, All Music Guide |
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