Ben Goldberg

[jgthomas]

Anybody know what clarinetist Ben Goldberg has been up to lately?
After a string of great records with New Klezmer Trio and various
other groups, I haven't seen him on a new record in awhile.

[Cem]

He had a new trio with Ches Smith on drums and Devin Hoff on bass a couple of years ago -which I still haven't heard, but heard great things about - last I spoke with him. I can't wait to get him up here again. He's among my faves. Hopefully, soon.

[al j]

There's a three-year old article on Junk Genius here that may interest you. As for now, I have no idea what Goldberg is up to.

[Chris Castelle]

I remember reading some reviews not too long ago of a couple of releases by an aggregation called Graham Connah and the Sour Note Seven that featured Goldberg, but I don't know how recent the recordings are, nore have I heard them.

Agreed re: the New Klezmer Trio as well as his more quiet, abstract stuff (the clarinet/guitar drums trio Almost Never is a personal favorite). Ben Goldberg is a master of his instrument and of the varied musical idioms that he explores. I wish there were more clarinetist specialists who possessed something approaching his chops and versatility.

[gonzo]

i remember him from his days with will bernard.

[me wag]

A year and a half later this article kind of answers the original question asked here. I guess of biggest note is that Goldberg and Zeena Parkins are now official members of the Tin Hat Trio with Rob Burger's departure as you will see below.



Berkeley: Clarinetist stays behind the scenes but is still at the head of the pack
Andrew Gilbert, Special to the Chronicle
Friday, February 18, 2005



Sometimes the most influential musicians are the ones who don't call much attention to themselves. Take Berkeley clarinetist Ben Goldberg, who for the past two decades has quietly inspired some of the Bay Area's most creative musicians.

While rarely leading a band under his own name, the galvanizing improviser explores everything from klezmer and folk blues to avant-garde jazz and the knotty compositions of Thelonious Monk and Herbie Nichols. Goldberg makes a rare appearance under his name on Saturday at the Jazzschool in Berkeley, playing with a band featuring veteran saxophonist Ron Stallings, trombonist Jeff Cressman and the dynamic rhythm section partners bassist Devon Hoff and drummer Ches Smith (who also perform as a duo called Good For Cows).

"We'll be doing all new music for this thing," says Goldberg, 45. "I just started inviting people I really like and want to play with. It'll probably be a one-time project focusing on songs I've been writing dealing with three- or four-part harmony."

Catching Goldberg in action isn't hard if you know where to look. He's been performing with Cornelius Boots' chamber jazz group Edmund Welles Bass Clarinet Quartet and has collaborated widely with guitarist John Schott and pianist Graham Connah. Over the past couple of years, he's been heard most frequently in the Bay Area with Plays Monk, a cooperative trio featuring bassist Devon Hoff and drummer Scott Amendola. The group performs March 9 at Bruno's in San Francisco's Mission District, and on March 14 at the swanky South of Market restaurant Bacar.

Like many Bay Area musicians in their 20s and 30s, Amendola cites Goldberg as a primary inspiration. "He can only be himself," Amendola says. "Every record he's ever made or played on is just Ben, and such a strong statement. He's been a really big influence on me, in terms of finding my voice, and being confident enough to be myself and do my own thing."

Following his muse wherever it leads him has been the hallmark of Goldberg's circuitous musical journey. Born in Illinois, Goldberg arrived in Northern California in 1979. While attending UC Santa Cruz, he hooked up with bassist Dan Seamans and drummer Kenny Wollesen, with whom he soon formed a klezmer band to play weddings and Jewish celebrations, all the while studying advanced jazz improvisation.

In the mid-'80s, he joined the tradition-minded band Klezmorim, which thoroughly grounded him in the history of the secular, celebratory music of Eastern European Jews. But the band's literal-minded re-creation of classic klezmer recordings began to feel stifling for Goldberg, and he sought release with his old bandmates.

"I was chomping at the bit playing in the Klezmorim, so I got Kenny and Dan together one day and said let's just take this klezmer tune that we all know and just cut loose on it," Goldberg says. "It was one of those transformative experiences. The energy just took over, and it may have been the first time in my life when I just felt this spiritual transformation through music, so I knew we were on to something."

Before long, the threesome had created the New Klezmer Trio, a visionary ensemble that kicked open the door for radical experiments with Ashkenazi roots music. With its combination of avant-garde-leaning jazz improvisation and Eastern European Jewish melodic material, the trio paved the way for bands such as saxophonist John Zorn's Masada, clarinetist Don Byron's Mickey Katz Project and violinist Daniel Hoffman's intrepid band Davka. Although the group hasn't performed lately in the Bay Area, in 2000 it released "Short for Something," a valedictory statement on John Zorn's Tzadik label.

In much the same way that the New Klezmer Trio re-imagined the klezmer tradition, Goldberg, Schott, Wollesen and bassist Trevor Dunn brought a fresh and startling perspective to bebop with Junk Genius, a group that recorded an electrifying self-named album for Knitting Factory Works in 1995. The band's follow-up album, 1999's "Ghost of Electricity" on Songlines, found the band in a completely different place. Where the first album echoes bebop's precision and intricacy, "Ghost of Electricity" is full of moody, expansive compositions inspired by American roots music, particularly the raw, haunted songs of Roscoe Holcomb, Doc Boggs, Charlie Patton and Robert Johnson.

Song form has played an increasingly important role in Goldberg's music in recent years. Where once he would have described himself as ideologically committed to free improvisation, providing his bands with a bare melodic theme but leaving room for players to develop their own harmonic content, Goldberg has found himself deeply engaged with the craft of composition.

"My music used to leave a lot of that open, where my songs used to just consist of a melody that everyone would play, and the idea was everyone would find their way into the tune," Goldberg says. "I'm taking more responsibility for more traditional aspects of the song, tonality, arrangement, dealing more explicitly with harmony. Playing with form is an unbelievable thing. You can shape it any way you want, the melody, or chord changes in Monk, you can push against it, it's a dynamic relationship."

Given his recent musical passion, perhaps it's not surprising that Goldberg has stepped into his highest-profile gig yet as the latest member of Tin Hat Trio, a band that has developed a repertoire of original compositions that often touch on popular song forms. Founded in the Bay Area in the mid- '90s, the acclaimed ensemble was founded by guitarist Mark Orton, violinist Carla Kihlstedt and pianist/accordionist Rob Burger.

In its new incarnation, Burger is stepping away from the band, replaced by Goldberg and harpist Zeena Parkins, best known for her extensive work with Bjork. Kihlstedt, who lives in Oakland and contributed to Goldberg's seminal 1997 album "Twelve Minor" (Avant), describes Goldberg as a profound inspiration on several levels.

"For me, Ben has been one of the most influential improvisers since I moved to the Bay Area," says Kihlstedt, who also performs with the art rock band Sleepytime Gorilla Museum and her own group, 2-Foot Yard. "His sense of harmony is exquisite and totally his own. There's a humility and patience about his playing that's really compelling. He said something when we were driving back from a gig from Santa Cruz, 'Never be apologetic for who you are. People will tell you who you should sound like, but you need to sound more and more like yourself,' and the idea really stuck with me."

Goldberg has certainly followed his own advice.


©2005 San Francisco Chronicle

[Squaredancecalling Steve]

WOW!! All these folks are among my favorite contemporary players! Thanks for posting. I'm stunned. Goldberg, Burger, THTrio... I LOVE this stuff. (I'm glad Carla is staying -- her leaving, too, would be too much for Jaka to handle

[Squaredancecalling Steve]

Jaka and I are probably the two most devoted Tin Hat Trio fans on this board. He turned me on to the side projects of Rob Burger and Carla Kihlstedt of the Trio. Recently, I led Jaka to Ben Goldberg (& the New Klezmer Trio and Junk Genius). So this is an amazing conjunction for Jaka and I, and undoubtedly means that we are destined to see this group together, somehow.

[jaka]

Originally Posted by Squaredancecalling Steve

WOW!! All these folks are among my favorite contemporary players! Thanks for posting. I'm stunned. Goldberg, Burger, THTrio... I LOVE this stuff. (I'm glad Carla is staying -- her leaving, too, would be too much for Jaka to handle

Great news!
I liked Rob Burger in THT though.
I'm new to Ben Goldberg's work (thanks to Steve) and can only be thrilled that he joins one of my favorite bands. Will they be the Tin Hat Quartet?

[Squaredancecalling Steve]

Oh, man, I just remembered who Zeena Parkins is -- the harpist on a bunch of incredible Nels Cline albums -- and she is VERY cool! (Also the sister of Andrea, from Ellery's group. There's another sister, too.)

This group is going to be... well, hard to know how they'll mesh... this group COULD be incredible!

[Vince Kargatis]

Originally Posted by Squaredancecalling Steve

o Zeena Parkins is -- the harpist on a bunch of incredible Nels Cline albums -- and she is VERY cool! (Also the sister of Andrea, from Ellery's group. There's another sister, too.)

I'll note: A bunch equals 3 in this case, and Zeena and Andrea are cousins.

[Squaredancecalling Steve]

Originally Posted by Vince Kargatis

I'll note: A bunch equals 3 in this case, and Zeena and Andrea are cousins.

As my old French teacher would say, "Otherwise perfect!"