SLAMCD596 Jimmy Bennington, Ed Schuller and Steve Cohn – New Jersey Freebie

Drummer Jimmy Bennington alongside pianist Steve Cohn pianist and bassist Ed Schuller, recorded in 2014 at Steve’s studio in Hackensack, New Jersey.

Jimmy tells it as it was: “Ed drove us with his bass, calmly cursing and singing throughout. The piano’s webs became the more intricate, Steve’s voice blending into the trio, and a light was shone on the drummer’s obscurity.

A sunny exploration of Hackensack, feeling good, experiencing new air, new faces, shops, people, an appetite growing…meandering strolls and discourse; many ideas passed back and forth, a thoughtful walk back to le Studio…a great old time warehouse you don’t see too much anymore, situated at the tracks…we were quiet and stayed that way for some time…just stillness and rest…the sound of the trains rumbling past, whistles blowing, augmented our hearts and the music we made there tremendously.”

Ed Schuller: bass
Jimmy Bennington: drums
Steve Cohn: piano, vocals

“Regardless of the source, there are no predispositions in the music’s presentation, which moves between passages of quiet, yearning tranquillity and periods of frantic commotion. The whole is distinctly out of the ordinary, seeking out as it were a new direction for the piano, bass, drums trio. Bennington’s drumming is a bit different, especially in its impropriety, its looseness, which leaves room for those around him to indulge in their own forms of discerning freedom…At just over 37 minutes long, if the CD were twice that there would be nothing in it of which one might tire. It’s very different, very imaginative, even perhaps unique.” – Ken Cheetham, Jazz Views

“The independent SLAM label, run by multi-reedsman George Haslam, has a catalogue which is nothing if not intriguing and varied, though with a general bias towards the avant-garde (if we can still call it that.) The music on this CD fits that template nicely…The two standards that bookend the album get respectful but certainly not reverential treatment. Cohn, who started out playing blues, offers some of his funkiest work on these tracks and on Back To You, which alludes surprisingly to Rodgers and Hart’s Isn’t It Romantic. Like all really interesting music this session reveals more details with successive hearings.” – Barry Witherden, Jazz Journal

“Loose and intuitive interpretations of jazz standards stand alongside originals on this trio album…Of the standards, Schuller rambles on and plays the song lead on “Night and Day,” and lays down a rich line for a liquid “Body and Soul.” Chaos and yelling takes place on a quickie “That’s It” and Schuller bows to a mellow Cohn for “Nepal” before the team splatters on the title track. Lots of visceral guidance on this one.” – George W. Harris, Jazz Weekly

Recorded June 26, 2014, Steve Cohn Studios, Hackensack, New Jersey
Mastered Spring 2019 by Jon Kudan at jSound Studios, Chicago

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