Pianist/Composer Yelena Eckemoff Recollects Childhood
in Russia Through Sense of Smell on Blooming Tall Phlox,
Featuring an All-Finnish Lineup of Young Rising Stars
Available January 20, 2017 on L&H Production
"Effortlessly modern, with nothing to prove beyond total
involvement in the moment, Eckemoff presents the listener with a
thoroughly modern, yet intimate and highly personal sound-world..." - All About Jazz
Blooming Tall Phlox is Yelena Eckemoff's
tenth album since shifting gears from the classical music of her early
career and a mid-career break to raise her children, into a more firmly
and decidedly jazz focus with the 2010 release of Cold Sun.
Playfully imbued with vitality, energy, creativity and, perhaps most
importantly, an unrelenting sound of surprise that reveals more with
each and every listen, Blooming Tall Phlox proves that it
is possible to reinvent oneself. Over six years and ten recordings,
Eckemoff has evolved into a deeply creative jazz artist: not just a
pianist capable of engaging with some of the finest jazz musicians on
the planet, but a composer/arranger who can surprise them with
unexpected and enigmatic music that drives them to even further levels
of excellence.
Augmented by her compelling artwork and poetry, Eckemoff now adds the impact of human senses to her music and in the case of Blooming Tall Phlox,
its that of smell. Increasingly imbued by her distinctive, recognizable
approach to melody, song titles like "Apples Laid Out on the Floor,"
"Wildflower Meadows" and "Old Fashioned Bread Store" not only palpably
evoke these alluring odors, but provide both vivid and immediate imagery
and inspiration for this double release divided into two parts: Summer Smells and Winter Smells.
"I
had the idea of writing music about smell for some time before I met
with [drummer] Olavi [Louhivuori] in Finland," Eckemoff says. "The idea
came into focus when I saw how much Finland reminded me of Russia; it
became obvious to me that it would be the best place to record an album
about various aromas. I brought fifteen songs to the session, already
named and designed to express certain smells. Writing the poetry came
later, even though I nurtured my ideas along with the music. Then I had
to select a title for the album but as I was writing my poems it became
clear that there is one smell that triggers my childhood memories: the
smell of the phlox. So I decided to paint a picture of myself in my
grandparent's garden, sniffing the phlox, based on a black and white
photograph from the time."
Creating increasingly multi-disciplinary music is not Eckemoff's only change with Blooming Tall Phlox.
Following a string of recordings with internationally renowned
Norwegian musicians like Arild Andersen, Tore Brunborg, Jon Christensen
and Mats Eilertsen, and A-list Americans including Peter Erskine, Billy
Hart, Mark Turner, Joe Locke and Mark Feldman, Eckemoff recruited some
of Finland's best young, up-and-coming players forthis outing. In
addition to trumpeter Verneri Pohjola, already garnering international attention for his series of recordings for Germany's ACT label, and Olavi Louhivuori,
whose contributions to albums on the heralded ECM label with artists
including Tomasz Stańko and Mats Eilertsen have, since 2009, also placed
the drummer and percussionist on the global map, Eckemoff enlisted
vibraphonist Panu Savolainen and double bassist Antti Lötjönen--two rising stars in their own country, and both already showing the promise of even broader recognition.
Eckemoff's
range is broad, as a pianist, composer and arranger. Her music can
seamlessly move between ethereal abstractions and arpeggio-driven
thematic constructs; bolstered by an organic meshing of frenetic grooves
and in-the-moment interaction, providing contexts for expressive
improvisational élan from Eckemoff and her exceptional quintet, the
pianist's firm yet subtle touch successfully unveiling, indeed, the
character of her Bechstein. With the exception of a small handful of
through-composed material, most of album's fifteen compositions
demonstrate a remarkable confluence of form and freedom, couched within
the context of some of Eckemoff's most challenging yet appealing charts
to date. And yet, despite the openness, the immediacy and
unpredictability that pervades much of the album, there's no shortage of
affecting lyricism, whether it's the thematically rich "Wildflower
Meadows" or temporally fluid tone poem "Sleeping in the Tent," where
Eckemoff's scripted lines provide expansive improvisational
opportunities.
Blooming Tall Phlox also
demonstrates, between Eckemoff's impeccable playing and interaction
with her superb bandmates, that her early classical training/experience
may still be a part of her DNA, but what she is doing now is irrefutably
jazz. It's a potent combination that, with Blooming Tall Phlox, not only raises her own already high bar, but those of Pohjola, Savolainen, Lötjönen and Louhivuori as well.
The
album is both a consistent fit within Eckemoff's overall discography
and a move into areas previously unexplored for a pianist who, rather
than constantly thinking about where she is now, is always (and, at this
moment, already) thinking ahead. She already has her next album in the
can and, if the exceptional Blooming Tall Phlox is any
indication, it will no doubt continue the upward trajectory that this
daring pianist/composer has been on since she first appeared in the jazz
world just six short years ago.
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"Blooming Tall Phlox" EPK
Yelena Eckemoff · Blooming Tall Phlox
L&H Production · Release Date: January 20, 2017
For more information on Yelena Eckemoff, please visit: yelenamusic.com
For more information on L&H Production, please visit: landhproduction.com
For media information, please contact:
DL Media · 610-667-0501
Greg Angiolillo · greg@dlmediamusic.com
Don Lucoff · don@dlmediamusic.com
