This is me

I always knew that Marco Benevento (of The Duo and Garage A Trois) was special ever since I first saw him perform 7 years ago.  He’s not really a jamband guy, but he’s not really a straight ahead jazz guy either.  Marco really has his own voice and a respect him for that.  So what kind of music does he play???  I call it instrumental avant-pop; in other words, experimental pop songs that you can sing along too even though there are no lyrics.  You read my review of his 2008 CMJ solo performance here.

Marco’s new album, Between the Needles and Nightfall (order here) is easily his best record yet (2 studio, 1 live).  As much as I loved his covers of My Morning Jacket and Beck (note:  please listen to both as an intro to his style), I knew more authentic original music would be on deck.

For the purposes of this post, I will focus on one song:  Between the Needles.   You can follow along to my critique via soundcloud embed below this paragraph.  And if you’re curious to hear what this sounds like live, check it out here.

Marco begins the song with on solo piano.  After about 10 seconds, Reed Mathis (bass, from Tea Leaf Green, Steve Kimock Band, and Jacob Fred Jazz Odyssey) and Andrew Barr (drums, from The Slip, Surprise Me Mr. Davis, and Sonya Kitchell).

Reed’s bass line on starting at the 24-second mark is easily the most beautiful line I’ve heard in a long time.  It helps fill in and guide Marco’s piano melody.  The song builds for the next minute or so.

This segment of the song is probably my favorite.  It’s full, but loose at the same time because this trio knows exactly when not to play as much as when they should.  All too often music is crowded because musicians think that more sound can only benefit the song, but this song proves those noisemakers wrong.

Overall, the song transitions like a post-rock song building from slow to fast (in and out of the original melody), but at its core is a well crafted pop song played by seasoned jazz musicians.

Support Marco by buying the album or going to see him live (including August 6 at Prospect Park) and appreciate an incredible musician who has found his authentic sound.