Worry Later Ben Goldberg, Adam Levy and Smith Dobson

• 1 Hornin In 06:01
• 2 Trinkle Tinkle 04:51
• 3 San Francisco Holiday (Worry Later) 04:32
• 4 Light Blue 04:14
• 5 Brilliant Corners 02:57
• 6 Little Rootie Tootie 05:12
• 7 Criss Cross 03:18
• 8 Shuffle Boil 06:14
• 9 Who Knows 04:04
• 10 Crepuscule With Nellie 04:50
• 11 Let's Cool One (Bonus Track) 04:42
• Total Runtime 50:55

Info for Worry Later

This isn’t the first time clarinetist Ben Goldberg has embraced the Thelonious Monk songbook. A 2007 release, Plays Monk, in a trio with bassist Devin Hoff and drummer Scott Amendola really highlighted the quirks and eccentricities of Monk’s singular approach, and, also, it was just plain fun hearing a piano-less album of Monk’s music. For Worry Later, his newest Monk project, Goldberg is joined by guitarist Adam Levy and drummer Smith Dobson… still piano-less and still very fun. Intriguingly, whereas the previous recording sounded thick in the middle of Monk’s compositions, the newest seems to focus on their individual characteristic. This approach has the effect of opening the compositions up and spreading them out… a sonic transparency that is quite striking.

In particular, on “Hornin In” and “Trinkle Tinkle,” when the trio accentuates the rhythmic qualities of the music, the motion can become almost beguiling, even taking into consideration the odd trajectories. For other tunes, like “Little Rootie Tootie” and “Light Blue,” the trio adopts a relaxed lazy-afternoon ambiance that is beguiling in its own right… just different. For “Brilliant Corners” and “Criss Cross,” the melody is laid down on the table, then dissected into smaller, interesting fragments, which in turn, become fodder for some harmonic playfulness.

Goldberg is one of the more inventive musicians on the scene, and there isn’t a project he works on that doesn’t offer up something new and insightful.

Ben Goldberg, clarinet
Adam Levy, guitar
Smith Dobson, drums

Recorded January 2 and 3 at Cressman Studios, San Francisco, CA
Recorded and mixed by Jeff Cressman
Mastered by Jon Cohrs at Spleenless Mastering, Brooklyn, NY

Ben Goldberg
Clarinetist and composer Ben Goldberg grew up in Denver, Colorado. He was a pupil of the eminent clarinetist Rosario Mazzeo and studied with Steve Lacy and Joe Lovano. Since 1992, when his group New Klezmer Trio “kicked open the door for radical experiments with Ashkenazi roots music” (SF Chronicle), Ben has shaped a career through curiosity and experimentation across many genres and styles. The New York Times has noted that Ben’s music “conveys a feeling of joyous research into the basics of polyphony and collective improvising, the constant usefulness of musicians intuitively coming together and pulling apart.” He has twice been named Rising Star Clarinetist by Downbeat Magazine.

Ben has released over thirty records of his own compositions. His groups include: Invisible Guy; Tin Hat; Orphic Machine; Unfold Ordinary Mind; The Cool Philosophy of Ben Goldberg; DIALOGUE, a duo with pianist / composer Myra Melford; the Ben Goldberg Trio with Greg Cohen and Kenny Wollesen; Ben Goldberg School; and Ben Goldberg’s Brainchild, an eleven piece ensemble performing Ben’s on-the-spot compositions. Ben plays in Allison Miller’s Boom Tic Boom and is on the Music faculty at the University of California, Berkeley. He also runs BAG Production Records.

This album contains no booklet.