Yelena Eckemoff

Romance of the Moon

L & H Production

Pianist and composer Yelena Eckemoff’s 2023 Lonely Man and His Fish was one of the year’s most charming albums, a human-pet story set to music and covered on these pages. Her latest, Romance of the Moon, het twentieth album, may seem different on the surface as it is based on the poems of Spanish poet Federico Garcia Lorca, each of them spelled out in the accompanying booklet. She had written music inspired by Lorca early in her career but goes full in on this effort. Yet, this is not a recitation of poetry over music. It is purely instrumental, with the musicians rendering Eckemoff’s and to some extent their own interpretation of these poems. While the lead melodic voice on Lonely Man and His Fish was cornetist Kirk Knuffke, the leading voices here are renowned Italian trumpeter Paolo Fresnu and colorful guitarist Riccardo Bertuzzi. Therein lies one similarity. The other is Eckemoff’s ability to musically translate words into sonic tapestries that convey visual images. She translated each of Lorca’s poems into Italian for the accompanying musicians so that they could help her realize her mission. The Italian ensemble is bassist Luca Bulgarelli, drummer Stefano Bagnoli, guitarist Bertuzzi, and the trumpeter Fresnu. Also, the album stays true to the classically trained pianist’s bent to marry European classical music with jazz in these 13 pieces.

The pensive opener “Bells” sets the stage for the album with Fresnu’s emotive lines cushioned by Eckemoff’s simpatico piano as the ensemble builds a cinematic soundscape, hinting at what’s to follow.  Her keyboards and Bertuzzi’s electric guitar form a light ethereal backdrop behind the acoustic instruments with bassist Bulgarelli and drummer Bagnoli in tasteful, unobtrusive support here and throughout. Like so many of these, even if one is unaware of the poem itself, the music can conjure plenty of imagery. “The Barren Orange Tree” holds suspense in its slow build and Fresnu’s taut lines. Guitarist Bertuzzi does a great job adhering to Lorca’s melancholy words in “Guitar” – “The weeping of guitar begins/The chalices of dawn break/The crying of the guitar begins…”

Eckemoff has consistently shown a penchant for various forms of nature in her songs and album titles, so it comes as little surprise that she’s gravitated to Lorca’s poems “Ballad of the Sea Water,” “About Cats,” Adventurous Snail,” and “Old Lizard” here.  The former has Fresnu on muted trumpet, Fresnu and Eckemoff pick up on the words in Lorca’s poem “About Cats” “lying in the sun” and “Sleep, my cat, like a lazy god” with their delicate, languorous strains. Similarly, guitarist Bertuzzi takes to heart the lines “the snail, a peaceful middle-class citizen of the walkway” in his pensive, reverberating solo, answered by Eckemoff on her effect-laden keyboard. Bertuzzi is far more declarative and commanding in keeping with the notion of “my near-sighted philosopher” in “Old Lizard. The guitarist also has a most intense, by turns serious and playful feature and dialogue with the pianist on the title track.

These are just a few examples that suggest it’s best to enjoy this rich soundscape by reading the lyrics in the booklet while listening. If you are new to Eckemoff a treasure chest of music awaits. Each album represents a different cast of musicians. She’s played with so many great ones. Ben Street and Eric Harland joined Knuffke on Lonely Man and His Fish and those preceding reads like a contemporary jazz Hall of Fame – Ralph Alessi, Ben Monder, Nasheet Waits, Aridd Andersen, Drew Gress, Peter Erskine, Chris Potter, Adam Rogers, Gerald Cleaver Billy Hart, Mark Turner, Joe Locke, George Mraz, and many more.

Eckemoff’s imagination knows few bounds. This is one that you will return to often.

• Jim Hynes

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