Hi, my name is Nathan from JazzGuitarLessons.net and you're listening to Album Deep Dives.
For this episode we will discuss one of the somewhat unheard-of jazz guitar giants of our time: Ben Monder. We will focus on his 1997 album titled “Dust”, so, get ready for some complex and compelling music. For a personal story I actually had a chance to see him in Ottawa in 2013 for the “Guitar Now” festival, where he spoke on a number of really interesting musical concepts. This guy is very, very intelligent, very well-read, and very compelling. So, let’s begin.
To start with, let’s get to know a bit more about him. Ben Monder was born on May 24, 1962. He started playing the guitar when he was 11 years old, after studying violin for 2 years. Even though his playing style involves very intricate finger style patterns, he never took formal classical guitar lessons, and his right-hand technique is mainly homegrown. Nevertheless, he has formal musical studies, attending from 1970 – 84 the Westchester Conservatory of Music, the University of Miami, and Queens College. He also has vast teaching experience having taught at 2 of the most renowned music institutes worldwide: the New England Conservatory in Boston, and the New School in NYC. Ben Monder’s career has not been very flashy, and he is not a particularly prolific composer, having released only 8 albums as a leader to this date. But don’t let that fool you: he has been one of the most in demand jazz guitarists in the world, appearing on over 200 albums, and most notably being the guitarist for David Bowie’s last recording “Blackstar” (2016). He has also held the guitarist chair at the famous Maria Schneider Orchestra for over 10 years, and he shared guitar duties together with Steve Cardenas in Paul Motian’s famous Electric Bebop Band. His work ethic is impressive, and his commitment to art is admirable. He meticulously works on every composition he writes, and won’t release anything he is not 100% invested in, which might be why he has released so few recordings under his own name.
[music clip “Sleep” 00:00 – 00:40]
As I mentioned before, we will focus our discussion on his 2nd album, titled “Dust”, and released in 1997 under the Arabesque label. This album features all original compositions by Ben Monder, except for one track. He was joined on this recording by Ben Street on bass and Jim Black on drums. Ben Monder mentioned in an interview that he thoroughly enjoys the jazz trio format because it allows him to use the full range of the instrument, and it allows him to have more influence over the direction the music takes, and this is certainly evident on this record. He uses the full range of the guitar, applying a variety of different techniques to create a vast range of textures. It’s an album on which Monder’s leadership is evident, but it also manages to showcase a very pure and organic interaction between the trio.
To kick off the album we have “Sleep”, a track that has a pronounced ECM sound to it, which Ben Monder has always identified with. This composition is very motivic, and it summarizes Monder’s sound in a nutshell. His advance harmonic taste, his textural fingerpicking technique, his complex use of different time signatures, and his fluid and intricate single note line playing are all showcased at one moment or another during this tune. All this under that ECM umbrella, which emphasizes his more tonal and modal post-bop approach. During his solo we can appreciate another element that is very relevant in Ben Monder’s playing. He considers soloing compositionally extremely important. During the following musical example listen to how he develops a couple of motifs throughout his solo by transposing them, mixing them together, applying rhythmic augmentation or diminution, and a series of different techniques to keep his lines cohesive and interesting.
[music clip “Sleep” 02:55 – 03:50]
The second track of the album titled “Silent Neighbors” goes in a very different direction. It’s an acoustic steel string guitar and upright bass feature, with some percussion in the mix. Apart from this different sonic landscape, the tune is much more contrapuntal, and appears to borrow elements of serial music and other types of atonal and polytonal classical music. It’s hard to tell if the tune is completely through composed, or if there is some amount of improvisation, but it constantly weaves intricate contrapuntal lines between the two instruments. Ben Monder has always cited avant garde classical music as a constant influence, and it certainly shows in this dark and melancholic track. Ben also shapes the tune in a magnificent way: it starts with a lot of dissonance, with the bass and guitar being in different keys (polytonality). After a short break featuring percussive instruments, the bass and guitar start playing phrases in more closely related tonalities, until they meet in the same key center. After this brief moment of familiarity, we are challenged again by the gradual tonal separation of the two instruments. It’s a brilliantly composed piece that explores tension and release by using familiar and unfamiliar sounds.
[music clip “Silent Neighbors” 11:10 – 11:55]
The title track of the album “Dust” is representative of yet another side of Monder. The best way to describe this tune is as progressive jazz, as it slowly moves from one section to another, introducing new sounds and elements to add a variety of colours to the same theme. The guitar starts the tune by playing its main melodic theme by itself in rubato time. The band then comes in with a slow and light groove that puts the theme in context with a steady time feel. Monder’s playful rhythmic style is now more evident, but the atmosphere remains calm and introspective. The tune then moves on to an edgier section that borrows elements from progressive rock and metal. It's really satisfying to hear the rhythmic complexity in this tune, as it is extremely well backed up by the rhythm section, and Ben’s intricate melodic lines retain cohesiveness and fluidity at all times, which, given the fast tempo, is impressive. It's astounding to hear just how free Ben Monder’s playing feels within such a rigid form. The tune is filled with feel and time changes, and obbligato lines, and Ben somehow manages to connect his improv with all of this intricate, written content with ease and clarity.
[music clip “Dust” 26:54 – 27:40]
As is now customary for Ben Monder’s releases, there is always at least one solo guitar piece. In the case of this album, it happens to be the next track, titled “In Memoriam”, and simply put, it's a masterpiece. I might describe it as a modern Bach chorale for guitar. The voiceleading is incredible, and both the melodic and harmonic content are complex and compelling. Similar to the rest of Monder’s compositions in this album, it hinges on motivic development, and the different colours that the melodic ideas go through are extremely well managed so that they meld together fantastically. It reminds me of Kenny Wheeler’s Music for Large and Small Ensemble’s “Opening”, in which a small melodic idea keeps expanding little by little until a rich and winding melody is revealed. Ben Monder goes a step further by treating the composition similarly to “Silent Neighbors”. But this time instead of going from dissonance to consonance, and back to dissonance, it does the exact opposite. The harmony gradually becomes more complex and dissonant, and during the climax of the piece, there are various contrapuntal melodies that interweave as the harmony shifts. It’s beyond me how Monder was able to play it with so much detail and expression, accentuating different voices throughout so that the counterpoint can be appreciated. Let’s listen to a short excerpt of this.
[music clip “In Memoriam” 34:33 – 35:15]
Next up, we have the only jazz standard on the entire album, and it’s none other than DePaul, Johnston, and Raye’s “I’ll Remember April”. As expected, this interpretation is very much “non-standard”. Monder’s reharmonization of the tune is really tasteful, giving it a very modern touch, but keeping the essence of the piece intact. Ben Street and Jim Black (once again, bass and drums respectively) keep a very light and floaty atmosphere throughout, and it gives it an almost ethereal (but swinging) quality. During Monder’s second solo, after the bass’ blowing, we can appreciate Monder improvising with chords in a very special way. He begins to solo with two or three note chords in the traditional way, but then he starts to add more density to his improv. Eventually, he builds a thick wall of sound using very dense and dissonant chords but applying volume swells to create a distinct effect, making sure the melody stands out. It sounds as if he starts to pluck his chords very aggressively but making sure the actual attack is not heard by turning the volume completely down, after which he gradually turns it back up. This creates a beautifully haunting effect that fills his solo with intensity in a very special way. Let’s listen.
[music clip “I Remember April” 44:52 – 45:36]
The final track of the album “Late Green” gives a very cinematic ending to the whole record. This tune stands out because it makes use of much more simple and consonant harmony and is the only tune on the album that has a pronounced folky sound. The tune features Monder playing on acoustic steel string guitar, and the bass and drums assume a much more textural role. Like much of Ben Monder’s writing, the composition is based on a few simple motifs that are repeated and developed throughout. It’s very interesting to realize that even though this is a simple tune, the trio makes it sound as though there is a full orchestra performing it. Part of why their orchestration is so effective is because of how each instrument is making use of their range. The bass alternates between bowing and plucking, but at all times stays in the low register with a rich full tone. The guitar takes up the mid-range, and stays there, shaping its phrases with dynamic variation. The drums play a lot of sparkly effects with the cymbals and snare drum using brushes. So, the whole sonic landscape is covered, and the musicians make a fantastic job of not stepping on each other’s toes and of following Ben Monder’s lead in order to shape the tune effectively. I personally love it as the ending tune because it shows Monder’s mastery of composition and orchestration by squeezing every last drop of juice out of a simple melodic idea.
[music clip “Late Green” 54:52 – 55:36]
Like I said before, Ben Monder has only released 8 albums as a leader, and although this list is certainly not as extensive as other artists, it makes each release special. Of course I would recommend you to listen to all 8 albums, but for the purpose of brevity, I will highlight some of them here. “Oceana” (2005) is a great album if you want to explore Monder’s compositional side, as it features through-composed tunes for the most part. For his polar opposite, I would encourage you to listen to Amorphae (2015), as it is much more focused on improvised music. Another album that stands out is his latest release “Day After Day” (2019). This is the only album that is comprised entirely of covers, and it’s divided in 2, with Monder playing solo guitar arrangements for the 1st half, to finish the album in a jazz trio setting. Finally, a couple of collaborations that are worth mentioning are his albums with the virtuoso vocalist Theo Bleckmann. These are “No Boat” (1997) and “At Night” (2007), and they’re pure magic.
Thank you for listening to this episode of Album Deep Dives, and I hope that you enjoyed it. If there is one thing to take away from Monder’s music, it's that complexity doesn’t have to take away from musical expressiveness. Ben Monder’s music is harmonically, rhythmically, and technically complex, but it is still very moving and expressive in nature. So, even though a lot of the time “less is more”, it doesn't always have to be. Once again, I've been your host, Nathan Corr. You can find more episodes of Album Deep Dives in your Jazz Guitar Mastery program on Learn.JazzGuitarLessons.net. Until next time, happy shredding!
