Ben Goldberg

Ben Goldberg is an American clarinet player and composer.

Ben Goldberg
Background information
Born (1959-08-08) August 8, 1959
Denver, Colorado, United States
GenresJazz, free jazz, klezmer
Occupation(s)Musician, composer
InstrumentsClarinet
LabelsBAG Production
Associated actsTin Hat
Websitebengoldberg.net

Career

His New Klezmer Trio produced three albums and the free improvisation on "Masks and Faces" was described as having "kicked open the door for radical experiments with Ashkenazi roots music."[1] Goldberg's musicality has influenced and inspired local musicians in the San Francisco Bay Area.[1]

Goldberg is also the founder of the music label BAG Production.[2]

Recently Goldberg has branched out into songwriting.[3] His "Orphic Machine" project, largely commissioned by Chamber Music America, was performed in Los Angeles.[4] The song-cycle is based on the writings of Allen Grossman and, for one critic, "the piece's thoughtful, sprawling compositions course through such a variety of styles and open-ended impulses that it would be tempting to dub this a new kind of world music".[4] Regarding songwriting and composing, in a 2010 profile piece in All About Jazz, Goldberg said, "I don't just want to give people something that they can appreciate or understand, or that makes them think, or something like that. I used to kind of feel that that's what I wanted to do, but that's not what I want anymore. I want to give people something that they can love."[5]

In 2011, Goldberg was named the No. 1 Rising Star Clarinetist by the Down Beat Critic's Poll.[6]

Discography

As leader
  • New Klezmer Trio – Masks and Faces (Tzadik, 1991)
  • The Relative Value of Things (33 1/4), with Kenny Wollesen (1993)
  • Junk Genius – Junk Genius (Knitting Factory Works) with John Schott, Trevor Dunn, and Kenny Wollesen (1995)
  • New Klezmer Trio – Melt Zonk Rewire (Tzadik, 1995)
  • Light at the Crossroads (Songlines) with Marty Ehrlich (1997)
  • What Comes Before (Tzadik), reflections on post-tonal harmonic structures with John Schott and Michael Sarin (1998)
  • Twelve Minor (Avant) (1998)
  • Ben Goldberg Trio – Here By Now (Music and Arts) with Trevor Dunn and Elliot Humberto Kavee (1998)
  • Junk Genius – Ghost of Electricity (Songlines) (1999)
  • New Klezmer Trio – Short for Something (Tzadik, 2000)
  • Almost Never (nuscope) with John Schott and Trevor Dunn (2000)
  • Ben Goldberg – Eight Phrases for Jefferson Rubin (Victo) (2004)
  • Ben Goldberg Quintet – The Door, the Hat, the Chair, the Fact (Cryptogramophone), a record of compositions dedicated to Steve Lacy (2006)
  • Nels Cline – New Monastery (Cryptogramophone, 2006)
  • Plays Monk (Long Song Records, 2007) – with Scott Amendola and Devin Hoff
  • Tin Hat – The Sad Machinery of Spring (Rykodisc, 2007)
  • Ben Goldberg – Go Home (BAG Production, 2009)
  • Ben Goldberg Trio – Speech Communication (Tzadik, 2009) – with Greg Cohen and Kenny Wollesen
  • Clarinet Thing – Cry, Want (BC Records, 2009)
  • Tin Hat – Foreign Legion (BAG Production, 2010)
  • Ben Goldberg Quartet – Baal: Book of Angels Volume 15 (Tzadik, 2010) – John Zorn's Masada Book 2
  • Myra Melford's Be Bread – The Whole Tree Gone (Firehouse 12, 2010)

As sideman

With Nels Cline

With Kris Davis

With Allison Miller's Boom Tic Boom

  • Otis the Polar Bear (Royal Potato Family, 2016)

With Jamie Saft

References
  1. Gilbert, Andrew (February 18, 2005). "Berkeley: Clarinetist stays behind the scenes but is still at the head of the pack". San Francisco Chronicle.
  2. Goldberg, Ben. "BAG productions". Archived from the original on September 4, 2011. Retrieved June 18, 2012.
  3. "Clarinetist Ben Goldberg ventures in new direction". San Francisco Chronicle. March 29, 2012.
  4. Barton, Chris (March 6, 2012). "Jazz Review: Ben Goldberg's Orphic Machine at the Blue Whale". Los Angeles Times.
  5. Allen, Warren (March 30, 2010). "Ben Goldberg; Clarinet Communion". All About Jazz.
  6. "2011 DownBeat Critics Poll". Down Beat. August 31, 2011. Archived from the original on April 14, 2012. Retrieved May 20, 2012.

Further reading

February 2013 review of "Unfold Ordinary Mind" and "Subatomic Particle Homesick Blues" in The New York Times

This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.