Bennie Maupin

Bennie Maupin!

The name strikes fear in the hearts of those who knew him as a foil to Miles Davis on Bitches Brew and On The Corner, a companion to Herbie Hancock throughout the 1970s, and as a powerful musician wielding a mighty bass clarinet in addition to flute and other reeds. You might not have his 1974 release as a leader, Jewel In The Lotus, but when you hear the name Bennie Maupin it conjures aural imagery of digging deep in a funk riff, freaking out over synthesized keyboards and electrifying drum grooves.

If you did hear his 1974 release, you might have realized that while Bennie Maupin certainly could play that dirty electrifying funk, it wasn't necessarily the vibe of his own music. Jewel In The Lotus reflected a different aesthetic, and Maupin obviously had his own sense of direction and purpose in his music (incidentally, Jewel In The Lotus finally made it to CD). If you need more convincing, with their usual vision and foresight Destination: Out was on the scene before the CD reissue to tell you why Jewel In The Lotus is a gem.

After a lengthy hiatus from recording as a leader, Bennie Maupin rose from the ashes to record Driving While Black in 1998, and then 8 years later in 2006 recorded a fantastic album for Cryptogramophone, Penumbra.  Only two years later, a quick turnaround in the context of Maupin's career as a leader, we now have Early Reflections, an album featuring Maupin and a trio of Polish musicians. It's a very different affair than Penumbra was, but equally rewarding to my ears.

The title and cover art of the album are appropriate: this is early morning music, reflective, contemplative, shaking off sleep and greeting the sun music. That's not to say that it doesn't reach energetic musical heights, but it takes its time getting there, with the patience of sunrise. Maupin is joined by three Polish musicians who have been his touring ensemble for the past two years, all young players who he met while doing some of his own studies in Poland.

Early Reflections is a striking album - carefully composed, no wasted notes or excess, sensitive dynamics and a clear musical vision. It achieves all of this without becoming wallpaper music, dinner music, or coffee shop music. It's far more stirring and purposeful than the album Maupin's old comrade Herbie Hancock recently won a Grammy for. It is what it is, to spin a tautological truism, and it is a largely meditative affair with some flourishes and flairs that provide the necessary contrast to make it all worthwhile. Maupin squeezes every ounce out of the CD format, packing in 76 minutes of music that alters the space time continuum in the way only good music can.

This album is being released on 4/22 at the same time as a 10 year retrospective CD/DVD for the Cryptogramophone label, complete with a celebratory stand at the Jazz Standard in New York - more on that later.