Six of One (Album)

Six of One
David Berkman Sextet studio album
Publication (s)	2019
Label (s)	Palmetto Records
Format (s)	CD
Genre (s)	Modern jazz , postbop
Title (number)	10
running time	56:30
occupation	Alto saxophone , clarinet : Billy Drewes Tenor saxophone, EWI: Dayna Stephens Soprano saxophone , bass clarinet : Adam Kolker Piano : David Berkman Double bass : Chris Lightcap Drums : Kenneth Salters Percussion : Rogerio Boccato (2) Tenor saxophone: Tim Armacost (1,5,7)
chronology Old Friends and New Friends (2015) Six of One (2019)

Six of One is a jazz album by the David Berkman Sextet. The recordings were made in 2018 and appeared on Palmetto Records in April 2019 .

background

Berkman plays ten tracks with his regular sextet (plus guests) in a program of original music with a wide range of influences. The band has worked together for many years and, like Duke Ellington before, Berkman likes to write for his ensemble with a focus on individual players.

With Six of One , pianist David Berkman presented a series of ten original compositions that had been composed over the course of five years. For the recordings he invited guests to his flexible sextet. He tried out two- and three-wind configurations, in which each individual contributed fluently and with his own ideas to the composed material.

Track list

• David Berkman Sextet: Six of One (Palmetto Records)

1. Blowing Smoke 6:13
2. Cynical Episode 6:30
3. Blue Poles 6:57
4. Billy 4:52
5. Sincerely 6:06
6. Three and a Half Minutes 4:55
7. Kickstopper 5:40
8. Shitamachi 4:47
9. Restoration 4:52
10. Rain Rain 5:20

• All compositions are by David Berkman.

reception

In the opinion of Dan Bilawsky ( JazzTimes ), David Berkman concentrates on the present album on the expansion of the inner workings of his writing, whereby he at times directs his gaze to the outer areas. This album is to a certain extent a logical next step after Old Friends and New Friends from 2015. The choice of paths is hardly predictable at Berkman, wrote the author. This is ensured by a variable mix of focus and freedom. Often you play with permutations , and Berkman bet on the art of potential and win.

The Shibuya Crossing in Tokyo 2012

There is a fitting quote from the wife of pianist David Berkman in the liner notes for his album Six of One, wrote the critic of the Rochester City Newspaper. She compares the music to a diagonal crossing, a six-way pedestrian crossing in her native Japan. “Organized chaos” is a wonderful metaphor for the bold interaction on the album. The best of these "scramble crossings" were found in "Cynical Episode" and "Kickstopper", when two of the saxophonists play different solos at the same time and formed a wild improvisational counterpoint that works wonderfully. The album shows Berkman's excellent playing and superb solos from all musicians, but ultimately it would be Berkman's distinctive compositions and arrangements that steal the show.

Web links

• Listing of the album on Allmusic (English). Accessed January 1, 2020.

Individual evidence

1. ↑ CD Review: The David Berkman Sextet (plus guests) - Six of One. Bebop Spoken Here, April 6, 2019, accessed January 12, 2020 . 
2. ↑ David Berkman Sextet: Six of One . Jazztrail, April 16, 2019, accessed on January 7, 2020 . 
3. ↑ David Berkman Sextet: Six of One at Discogs
4. ↑ Dan Bilawsky: The David Berkman Sextet - Six of One. JazzTimes, June 2, 2019, accessed January 12, 2020 . 
5. ^ Review of Six of One. Rochester City Neespaper, June 24, 2019, accessed January 12, 2020 .