Ben Winkelman Trio
The Spanish Tinge
(Jazzhead)
By Peter Kenyon
Ben Winkelman’s first CD released on Jazzhead in 2005, Stomps Pieces & Variations alerted us to a new force on the jazz scene. Strikingly original, it demonstrated a compositional and performance talent that would gather an appreciative listening audience around the country, both for the CD and for his touring band.
Perth was part of that tour, and he and his trio certainly impressed those that heard them at Hyde Park and on the various jazz programs on local and national radio. A distinguishing feature of Winkelman’s approach is the recognition of the history of the jazz artform and an ability to interpret that history in a very contemporary way, His is not a nostalgic or reverential approach to the early days of jazz, but rather an attempt, and a very successful one at that, to incorporate rags and stomps and the early traditional styles of stride piano into contemporary jazz.
This new CD continues in this style with its title track, ‘the Spanish Tinge,’ apparently influenced by Jelly Roll Morton’s assertion that an essential element of jazz is a Latin or Spanish influence. However, Winkelman does not stop in New Orleans, but ranges far and wide with Argentinian tangos and Brazilian influences mixed in to a very interesting display of shifting tempos and polyrhythmic currents that incorporates many parts of the jazz world, past and present, and genres that only recently been subjected to jazz influences, such as traditional Jewish music. In this, he is served brilliantly by his ex-Perth sidemen, drummer Ben Vanderwaal and double bassist, Sam Anning. Vanderwaal’s drumming is central to this shifting across time and space.
The Spanish Tinge reminds the listener why it is that the piano trio continues to intrigue audiences in live performances and for recorded jazz. Somehow the piano trio in jazz represents a quintessential vehicle for improvised music in the same way that the string quartet is the perfect form for small scale chamber music in classical music. The essential element of a fine jazz trio is the ability of the three musical elements to converse with one another in a way that the whole is much greater than the sum of the parts. This requires empathy and a sense of collegiality as well as technical virtuosity. All three musicians demonstrate these characteristics throughout the album. It is a wonderfully satisfying exploration of how a small ensemble can paint sound pictures on a scale that belies the number of performers.
Winkelman’s piano style, although obviously influenced by stride, is not forceful or overbearing. Rather his pellucid touch is just right to accommodate the shifting rhythms and time signatures of his compositions and allows plenty of space for Anning’s beautiful bass lines and Vanderwaal’s spare but precise drum style. Anning’s bass is particularly striking on ‘Urge.’ But the Latin influence throughout requires a subtle rhythm section and no where on this album is there anything other than consummate support offered by Anning and Vanderwaal to Winkelman’s piano.
On two tracks, the trio is augmented by other musicians. On ‘Aguantando La Zozobra Crepuscular’ Javier Fredes adds his congas to the beat of this latin-infused number. Fredes and Vanderwaal, playing all over the rims and a muted bell, construct a daunting duet to provide the foundation to this infectious, urgent piece. The title roughly translates as ‘holding back the sinking sun,’ and the trio does its darnedest to do just that!
On the final track, ‘Vilna’, the trio is joined by Paul Williamson on trumpet, Lachlan McLean on alto sax, Julien Wilson on tenor sax and Ben Gillespie on trombone. The horns add gravitas and texture to Winkelman’s pianism in this haunting but reflective hymn. Given the other Hebrew references, ‘Isaachar’ and ‘The Tearing of the Veil’, is this piece a tribute to the Vilna Ghetto of the Holocaust? Whatever, this second CD of the Ben Winkleman Trio is a further example of Winkelman’s humanity in canvassing the universality of emotion in jazz across time and space.
This review first appeared on the JazzWA website
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Ben Winkelman Trio
The Spanish Tinge
(Jazzhead)
Rating: ****
By John McBeath
Melbourne pianist Ben Winkelman has travelled an individual path since his 2005 album Stomps Pieces & Variations which resurrected ragtime and stride piano using his contemporary-styled originals. The new title is a quote from Jelly Roll Morton who believed ‘the Spanish tinge’ was essential ‘seasoning’ for jazz, meaning Latin rhythms and ‘Habanera’ ideas ought to be inherent in the music. Winkelman has achieved this by more than simply playing predictable Latin beats: he moves between various rhythms, sometimes abandoning tempo altogether, and makes effective use of extended harmonies, swinging improvisations, even classical phrases. All but one of these pieces are originals and the title track is the only one to include ragtime references, but in Winkelman’s signature style it soon digresses into a contemporary piano groove, then stately tango rhythms, followed by an evocative Latino flavoured bass solo from Sam Anning. Ben Vanderwal handles the often complex percussion extremely well in this unusual exploration of nostalgic styles from the Spanish Quarter of old New Orleans, with a 21st century makeover.
This review first appeared in The Weekend Australian and is reprinted with permission of the author.
