Rush is the third outing from Lucian Ban & Elevation, and their first in a decade. The Romanian pianist assembled the group in 2006 with tenor saxophonist Abraham Burton, bassist John Hébert, and drummer Eric McPherson. Mystery, the group’s raw live debut, was recorded on-stage in 2010 and released in 2013 and included all original compositions by the band’s members. 2018’s Songs from Afar included several traditional works arranged by Ban and Hébert alongside originals; the lineup included two guests: violist Mat Maneri and Romanian vocalist/folklorist Gavril Tarmure. Ban composed eight of the nine pieces on Rush; the only exception, “Golden Oriole,” is a traditional Romanian song with vocals by Tarmure.
Opener “Dark Blue” is dedicated to Abdullah…
Tag Archive: Lucian Ban
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Lucian Ban and Mat Maneri have been playing Transylvanian-tinged music together for 15 years, the last half-decade with reeds master John Surman. The trio’s latest release, Cantica Profana – as well as a companion album, The Athenaeum Concert – shows the three improvisors at the top of their form. The collaboration began with 2020’s Transylvanian Folk Songs, a set of tunes based on field research of Bela Bartók. Bartók’s recordings include thousands of melodies, which Ban and Maneri whittled down to just a handful. Most of the ones they chose were originally played by violin, flute, and bagpipes, an orchestration not impossibly distant from the contemporary group’s combination of viola, saxophone/clarinet, and piano.
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