YELENA ECKEMOFF QUARTET: Leaving Everything Behind
L&H Production, 2016

CHAMBER JAZZ — An impressionistic set, with an unusual piano/violin combination over skittering rhythms. At times haunting, at others like a gentle daydream, this emotional music balances Eckemoff's classical background with a free-flowing spirit of journey, occasionally incorporating moments of free improvisation.

All tracks intriguing. Fo's Picks: 2, 3, 5, 6, 10

1. 3:04 — sparse piano over soft percussion; gentle quartet swells and ebbs
2. 5:04 — dramatic intro, dark piano steps over turbulence, violin moans
3. 6:57 — mysterious stroll, occasionally drifts into optimistic dance
4. 7:29 — dramatic invocation of rain grounds a rolling uptempo tone poem
5. 7:42 — gentle midtempo flow, but with a frosty/forbidding undercurrent
6. 8:22 — uptempo churning rhythms: violin & piano in eloquent dialogue
7. 8:34 — quiet openness slips into melancholy; sad violin & resolute piano
8. 7:40 — after the storm: piano droplets & rising phrases, turns unsettled
9. 7:21 — gentle rocking but with a slight edge; expands in the center
10. 8:07 — calm, off-center theme; drifts softly through pastoral moods
11. 8:23 — serene piano over cymbal; quartet slips in/out of complexity

[Fo] 2016-10-28

Yelena Eckemoff - piano
Mark Feldman - violin
Ben Street - bass
Billy Hart - drums