BEN SOLOMON

ECHOLOCATION

Giant Step Arts

Ben Solomon, tenor saxophone/composer; Davis Whitfield, piano; Rashaan Carter, bass; Kush Abadey, drums.

Ben Solomon is a graduate of Berklee College of Music and a longtime associate with the Wallace Roney band. This album is part of the Giant Step Arts’ label of open recording sessions and concerts.

Davis Whitfield lends his piano talents to a cascade of arpeggio notes, sounding like a musical waterfall splashing into my listening room.  This tune is called “Reflection pool” and Ben Solomon’s tenor saxophone seems to reflect Whitfield’s cascading notes, while establishing his original composition’s melody at the same time.

The title of this album led me to the dictionary.  “Echolocation” is a process that uses sound waves to locate objects that are distant or invisible. For example, it’s used to locate animals like bats, or dolphins and whales hiding deep in the ocean.  Some birds even use echolocation to navigate and find their prey.  This title tune is opened by drummer Kush Abadey, a gifted musician who Solomon met through performances with the late Wallace Roney, Greg Murphy and Géraud Portal. During this arrangement, Rashaan Carter makes a striking statement on his double bass. He becomes the vehicle of ‘Echolocation,’ searching the deep, basement places where improvisation lies unseen and longing to surface.  Carter pulls the music through his bass strings, like precious treasures.  When Solomon enters on his tenor, he continues the search, flying through space on saxophone wings.

This album features six of Ben Solomon’s original compositions, inspired by John Coltrane and Miles Davis, both influencers of a jazz generation.  Solomon offers his composition skills and rich tone to summon up respect and recall of these two jazz giants, who changed the face of jazz forever.  Solomon and his cohorts continue that legacy, adding their modern jazz landscape to the historic scenery of the past.  Part of that legacy was captured when, in 2020, Solomon published a book of modulation etudes for saxophone called “Chromatophores.”

This is Solomon’s debut recording.  We can expect to hear much more from this talented woodwind player and composer.

Reviewed by Dee Dee McNeil

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