Romance of the Moon Yelena Eckemoff

• 1 Bells 05:53
• 2 Barren Orange Tree 08:14
• 3 Guitar 06:08
• 4 Ballad of the Sea Water 06:12
• 5 About Cats 07:13
• 6 Romance of the Moon 09:08
• 7 Window Nocturnes 05:59
• 8 Diamond 05:56
• 9 Adventurous Snail 04:59
• 10 Thirsty for New Songs 06:02
• 11 Memento 03:36
• 12 Old Lizard 04:41
• 13 August 05:05
• Total Runtime 01:19:06

Info for Romance of the Moon

Die Pianistin, Komponistin und Konzeptkünstlerin Yelena Eckemoff versucht sich mit »Romance of the Moon« an einer etwas anderen, aber nicht minder geistreichen und kühnen Lösung. Als multimedialer Denker hat Eckemoff schon früher Alben gemacht, die sowohl ihre visuelle Kunst als auch Geschichten, Gedichte und Konzepte aus ihrer eigenen Vorstellungskraft einbeziehen. Diesmal präsentiert sie eine Suite von Kompositionen, die von dem großen spanischen Dichter Federico García Lorca inspiriert sind und von einem formidablen italienischen Ensemble interpretiert werden, zu dem der Bassist Luca Bulgarelli, der Schlagzeuger Stefano Bagnoli, der Gitarrist Riccardo Bertuzzi und die weltberühmte Trompetenikone Paolo Fresu gehören.

Wenn dies eine Abkehr von Projekten wie Eckemoffs Werk Lonely Man and His Fish aus dem Jahr 2023, das auf ihrer Erzählung einer Mensch-Haustier-Beziehung basiert, oder »Adventures of the Wildflower« aus dem Jahr 2021, das das Leben einer einzelnen Pflanze nachzeichnet, dann ist das so. »Romance of the Moon« hat mehr Gemeinsamkeiten mit Eckemoffs Diptychon von Alben, die auf den biblischen Psalmen basieren, »Better Than Gold and Silver« von 2018 und »I Am a Stranger in This World« von 2022. Diese wurden jedoch als Vokalvertonungen geschrieben (wenn auch ohne Sänger aufgeführt). Diese neuen Kompositionen wurden als Instrumentalmusik erdacht, geschrieben und ausgeführt.

Das soll jedoch nicht heißen, dass Eckemoffs Stücke weniger eng mit den Lorca-Gedichten verwoben sind, die sie inspiriert haben. Die Komponistin ging sogar so weit, die Texte ins Italienische zu übersetzen, damit ihre Mitstreiter »genau wissen, worum es in jeder Komposition geht«, sagt sie. »So wichtig war es, dass sie genau wissen, was das Gedicht aussagt. Es sind zwar Instrumentalstücke, aber die Musik entspricht trotzdem den Gedichten.« Sie übersetzte sie noch einmal ins Englische, damit die Zuhörer sie verstehen können.

Romance of the Moon basiert zwar auf Poesie, hat aber dennoch einen dramatischen Schwung. Das gilt sowohl für die einzelnen Stücke - wie Fresus straffe, spannungsgeladene Trompetenlinie in »Barren Orange Tree« und Bertuzzis sich sorgfältig entwickelndes Gitarrensolo in »Old Lizard« - als auch für das gesamte Album, das sich vom nachdenklichen Opener »Bells« über den stimmungsvollen Höhepunkt des Titeltracks bis hin zur beschwörenden, befriedigenden Auflösung von »August« entwickelt. Wie Lorca und andere große Dichter versteht auch Eckemoff die Bedeutung der Form, sowohl auf der Makro- als auch auf der Mikroebene.

»Romance of the Moon« ist Eckemoffs erste Begegnung mit Fresu, Bulgarelli, Bertuzzi und Bagnoli. »Im Jazz ist das Projekt erst dann abgeschlossen, wenn es mit Jazzmusikern aufgenommen wurde«, erklärt sie. »Ich gestalte jedes Projekt so, dass sie sich selbst ausdrücken können.« Diszipliniert und frei bewohnen diese Musiker Eckemoffs betörende Themen mit der destillierten Intensität von Lorcas Gedichten.

Yelena Eckemoff, Klavier, Keyboards
Paolo Fresu, Trompete und Flügelhorn
Riccardo Bertuzzi, elektrische Gitarre
Luca Bulgarelly, Kontrabass
Stefano Bagnoli, Schlagzeug

Yelena Eckemoff
was born in Moscow, Russia, in the Soviet Union. Her parents noticed that she had musical talent when she started to play piano by ear at the age of four. Yelena’s mother, Olga, a professional pianist, became her first piano teacher. At the age of seven Yelena was accepted into an elite Gnessins School for musically gifted children where, in addition to common school subjects, she received extensive training in piano, music theory, music literature, solfeggio, harmony, analysis of musical forms, conducting, composing, and other musical subjects. She was fortunate to study piano with Anna Pavlovna Kantor, who also trained one of today’s most celebrated pianists, Evgeny Kissin. Later Yelena studied piano with Galina Nikolaevna Egiazarova at the Moscow State Conservatory. Upon graduation with Master’s Degree in piano performance and pedagogy, she worked as a piano teacher in one of Moscow music schools, gave solo concerts, attended courses at the Moscow Jazz Studio, played in an experimental jazz-rock band, and composed a lot of instrumental and vocal music.

In 1991, with her husband, Yelena emigrated to the United States. While assimilating and surviving in a new country and raising children, she had to put her musical career on hold. During these years Yelena experimented with synthesizer and MIDI sequencer in her little home studio, then founded an ensemble of local musicians. She self-released albums in various genres including classical, vocal, folk, Christian, and her original music.

She recorded her first jazz album, COLD SUN, in 2009, accompanied by drummer Peter Erskine and Danish bassist Mads Vinding, which proved to be the major turning point in her jazz career. Cold Sun was names one of 15 best jazz CD releases of 2010 by Warren Allen (AAJ) and drew comparisons to the stark music of ECM Records.

From that point on, Eckemoff churned out compelling and focused jazz albums at an astounding pace; she recorded and released four more piano trio records in less than four years engaging such notable jazz musicians as Mads Vinding, Morten Lund, Mats Eilertsen, Marilyn Mazur, Darek Olezskiewicz, Peter Erskine, and Arild Andersen. FORGET-ME-NOT (L & H, 2012) was in the best 10 on CMJ charts for over 10 weeks. “Themes of nature, sounds of isolation, stark settings, and blurred lines between compositional and improvisational elements are visible on all of Eckemoff’s trio dates, but no two records sound exactly the same.” (John Kelman)

For GLASS SONG (L&H, 2013), she reenlisted Erskine and brought bassist Arild Andersen into the fold for the first time. Surprisingly, neither veteran had ever recorded together, but you would never know it. “Eckemoff, Andersen and Erskine create music that’s focused, yet free floating, and open, yet never nebulous. Pure melody is of less importance than the greater narrative in each number, but the music still sings out with melodic grace. While Manfred Eicher and his storied label have nothing to do with this record, Glass Song has that “ECM sound,” if ever it existed. Mystery, blooming musical thoughts and vaguely haunting notions are at the heart of this captivating album.” (Dan Bilawsky)

Yelena Eckemoff ‘s Lions (L&H 2015), with bassist Arild Andersen and drummer Billy Hart is a long but comprehensive look at animals in the wild with human touches, a classical-jazz soundtrack that goes beyond the superficial, intermission grabs for attention and seeks out the feelings beneath the eerily accurate movements.

“EVERBLUE (L&H, 2015) has Arild Andersen, saxophonist Tore Brunborg and drummer Jon Christensen. This Norwegian all-star contingent fits beautifully into Eckemoff’s aesthetic: Andersen with his looming pronouncements like final summations; Christensen with his suggestive rhythmic ambiguity; Brunborg with his clear, clean sound and respect for space. Glass Song, Lions and Everblue contain some of the most powerful, poetic work of Andersen’s long career.” (Thomas Conrad)

“LEAVING EVERYTHING BEHIND (L&H, 2016) is united around themes of departure and loss. Yelena wrote a poem for each piece and made the cover art. She is accompanied by violinist Mark Feldman, whose background is in classical and country music. Several of compositions date from the 1980s; a time when she was just beginning her exploration into jazz. These pieces seem highly refined, replete with airy, vague harmonies that refer equally to Bill Evans and Claude Debussy.” (Mark Sullivan)

BLOOMING TALL PHLOX (L&H, 2017) is intended to evoke different scents that Yelena Eckemoff recalls from her childhood in Russia. These powerful smells trigger a myriad of magical memories, each of which somehow, is transformed into a moveable feast of sounds – melodies set free by Yelena Eckemoff on a gloriously tuned piano and harmonized by Verneri Pohjola, a Finnish horn player, together with Panu Savolainen on vibraphone, Antti Lötjönen on bass and the percussionist colorist Olavi Louhivuori.

Although jazz is associated with improvisation, Eckemoff often writes her tunes out. Her music has been described as classical chamber music in the context of improvisational jazz. She developed a highly acclaimed jazz style that incorporates her classical technique and influences very effectively. With each new record Eckemoff’s distinctive, recognizable approach to melody becomes even more prominent. Yelena Eckemoff uses life and nature’s bouquets as her muse to create the body of work that blends post-modern abstraction, classical thought, and jazz language into a seamless whole. True to her classical-jazz impressionism, Eckemoff sees humanity in nature.

A band leader, producer and co-founder of L & H Production record label, Yelena also gives piano lessons. She had served as a church musician and choir director for over 22 years, until she got too busy with her recording and performing schedule. Yelena believes in hard work, God’s guidance, humanism, and eternal love.

This album contains no booklet.