MAR 3-6 | Guitar Week
Mar 03, 2022
Joe Henderson Lab
PLEASE NOTE:
This page is an archive of a past production
Please visit our calendar for all upcoming SFJAZZ shows.
Original show description below.
A visionary guitarist with virtuosic technical facility, an atmospheric, nearly cinematic approach and an inimitable, searching lyricism, New York native Ben Monder has carved an individual niche in modern jazz. Logging early experience with two of most exploratory large ensembles to emerge in the 1990s in the Maria Schneider Orchestra and Guillermo Klein y Los Guachos, Monder has flourished in settings that allow his pointillistic melodic signature and floating, cloud-like chords to shine through. He has contributed his singular sonic landscapes to his work with Paul Motian, Lee Konitz, Donny McCaslin, and vocalist Theo Bleckmann, and was a critical presence on David Bowie’s 2016 swan song Blackstar.
Monder has led eight sessions for the Sunnyside, Arabesque, and ECM labels that showcase his angular, densely harmonic original compositions, and his most recent, 2019’s Sunnyside 2-disc date Day After Day, is his first devoted entirely to covers. With half consisting of solo performance and half featuring a trio, Day After Day explores vast territory ranging from Mancini and Bacharach to Dylan, John Barry soundtracks, and George Harrison. Listeners can expect to hear some of these scintillating takes on classics during this, Monder’s SFJAZZ debut as a leader.
Listeners can expect to hear some of Monder's scintillating takes on classics during this, his SFJAZZ debut as a leader.
Ben Monder has played nearly unsurpassable jazz guitar with any number of actual jazz groups. But what he plays with his own group comes from another planet.
The New York Times
Ben Monder has played nearly unsurpassable jazz guitar with any number of actual jazz groups. But what he plays with his own group comes from another planet.
The New York Times
Personnel
Ben Monder guitar
Tony Malaby tenor saxophone
Tom Rainey drums
His arrangements and conceptions of the music are unique and brilliant.
PopMatters
Personnel
Ben Monder guitar
Tony Malaby tenor saxophone
Tom Rainey drums
His arrangements and conceptions of the music are unique and brilliant.
PopMatters
Watch & Listen
Ben Monder
Long, Long, Long
Ben Monder
O Sacrum Convivium
Ben Monder
Long, Long, Long
Ben Monder
O Sacrum Convivium
MAR 3-6 | Guitar Week
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