passing on a recommendation
several years ago i worked as a fundraiser. my computer dialer connected me with steven bernstein. i hadn't heard of steven bernstein at that time. he told me he was busy writing music. i asked him what kind of music he wrote. he hesitated before answering, world music. i threw out a couple names to find where we were: bill frisell and dave douglas. frisell, he said he had written music for, and douglas he had played with back in highschool. not wanting to take up more of his time, he had after all pledged a donation, i asked him who i should be listening to. me, he said, you should be listening to me. i looked for his cds and started seeing his name around, places like the jazz standard playing the music of don cherry, and on a cd featuring sam rivers. if these were the musicians influencing his sound i knew i had to hear him.
diaspora suite is world music, a spanish flavor, the drums on the opening track reuben sound north african, and simeon is a hip funky blues, peter apfelbaum doing most of the work.
there are four horns and three guitars and two drums and an electric bass on the recording, but it's the arrangement of the horns that carry the day.
chances are eventually i would had found bernstein's music on my own, but i'm glad i had the opportunity to speak with him and that he believed enough in what he's saying musically to have recommended his work to me. there's so much going on on diaspora suite, and i don't want to forget to mention jeff cressman's trombone blowing on gad.
truly worth a listen.
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