RICHMOND, Calif., Aug. 10, 2018 /PRNewswire-PRWeb/ -- The
prolific Russian-born, North
Carolina-based pianist/composer Yelena Eckemoff adds a
sacred dimension to the ambitious series of concept albums in her
extensive catalogue her new 2-CD set "Better Than Gold and Silver."
Due for September 21 release on her
imprint L&H Production, it's the first in a projected series of
recordings featuring Eckemoff's settings of Biblical psalms. The
new album includes both vocal and instrumental versions of 10 songs
she conceived as works of modern jazz rather than part of the
Christian music canon.
While the album's lyrics—beautifully sung by tenor Tomás Cruz
and mezzo-soprano Kim Mayo—are word-for-word verses from the King
James Bible (the album's title is
based on verse 72 from Psalm 119: "The law of thy mouth is better
unto me than thousands of gold and silver"), Eckemoff explains in
her liner notes that the music is what she "heard behind the
words." What she heard and composed is highly melodic,
multilayered, intricately structured jazz that takes full advantage
not only of her virtuoso pianism, but also of the distinctive
talents of the all-star team of instrumentalists she enlisted for
the project: trumpeter Ralph Alessi,
guitarist Ben Monder, violinist
Christian Howes, bassist
Drew Gress, and drummer Joey Baron.
The genesis of Eckemoff's interest in composing jazz settings
for sacred texts dates back to her time in her native Moscow, where she and her husband were
searching for something to fill the spiritual void around them.
They found it in the hymns and religious songs of the city's only
Baptist church and its choir and pipe organ; soon, these former
atheists were drawn into Christianity and baptized.
Looking for texts with which she could musically commune with
her newfound faith, Eckemoff turned to the psalms in a Russian
bible, but had trouble understanding its Old Slavonic language. She
searched in vain for an English bible in a country that banned
religious texts. Eventually an American missionary she'd written to
sent her a Bible adapted for people speaking English as a second
language.
Years later, having overcome overwhelming odds and emigrated to
the U.S., Eckemoff was informed by a minister in her North Carolina hometown that she had been
using the wrong version of the Bible. She discovered the King James
version was indeed deeper, richer, and more poetic, and its psalms
inspired this, her first collection of sacred texts in jazz
settings.
Yelena Eckemoff has been composing since she was four years old,
her musical impressions taken from her mother, a pianist and
teacher. Years of academic studies at Gnessins School for musically
gifted children, followed by the Moscow Conservatory, provided a
solid foundation in classical music. But as she grew into her teens
she developed an interest in other musical styles, like pop, rock,
and jazz, although this was a time when jazz recordings were scarce
in Russia.
Eckemoff attended Dave Brubeck's
legendary concert in Moscow in
1987, a pivotal moment for her and many other Russian musicians.
Though she had already started playing jazz before hearing Brubeck,
this was one of the first jazz concerts she had attended, and she
was so impressed she formed her own band and "tried to play
jazz."
Stylistically, Eckemoff's writing and playing reference
classical music, the blues, jazz-rock fusion, free-jazz and,
occasionally, funk. Her recordings this decade have each dealt
conceptually with a particular theme. "Glass Song" (2013), her
first project pairing Arild Andersen
and Peter Erskine (who surprisingly
had never played together before), features songs about rain,
melting ice, and clouds. "A Touch of Radiance" (2014), with
Mark Turner, Joe Locke, George
Mraz, and Billy Hart, is
dedicated to happiness while "Lions" (2015), featuring Andersen and
Hart, captures life in the savannah with songs about those majestic
cats and their cubs as well as migrating birds and tropical rains.
Eckemoff's previous release, "Desert" (May
2018), captures musically the mysteries and mesmerizing
allure of one of nature's most daunting environments.
"Better Than Gold and Silver" is an exceptional addition to the
lineage of works inspired by religion like Duke Ellington's "Sacred Concerts," John Coltrane's "A Love Supreme," and
Steve Reich's own interpretation of
the Psalms, "Tehillim." "I've been smitten and humbled by the
profundity of the psalms," Eckemoff confesses, "not only as sacred
texts, but as a marvelous treasure of the poetic art. I found out
for myself that there's a lot to be learned from these verses even
in our modern world about the eternal questions of life and
death—what is the meaning of life, what makes people happy, what we
leave behind after we die, and where to find strength to go about
the daily labors and survive in the face of adversity."
Yelena Eckemoff will showcase "Better Than Gold and Silver"—with
Tomás Cruz, voc; Ralph Alessi, tpt;
Jeff Miles, g; Drew Gress, b; Jochen
Rueckert, d—at a free concert on Friday 10/5, 7pm, St. Peter's Church, 619 Lexington Avenue,
NYC.
SOURCE Yelena Eckemoff