One Trick Dog Records is pleased to announce the release of Instead, the debut album from New York pianist and composer, Ben Rosenblum. The album features six original compositions with legendary drummer Billy Hart (renowned for his work with Herbie Hancock, Miles Davis and McCoy Tyner) and Grammy-winning bassist Curtis Lundy (arrangement for Kanye West's Jesus Walks). These tracks combine Ben's foundation in traditional hard bop with his modern melodic sensibility, and reflect his extraordinary versatility. Instead opens with Because It's Raining, a dynamic piece that floats its melancholy melody line over Billy Hart's atmospheric drumming.
It then segues to Clarisse and Walter, a more straight ahead tune that hearkens back to the arrangements of Art Blakey or Hank Mobley. The album develops with: And Then It's Gone, which improvises jazz harmonies over a bossa nova; the up-tempo Blur, which reflects back on the intensity of 1980s post-bop; Far Back, a waltz reminiscent of Bill Evans; and Azucar, an energetic Afro-Cuban track. The original tracks are complimented by five standards, including an iconic bowed version of Duke Ellington's Single Petal of a Rose, featuring Lundy's soulful bass.
Ben is a jazz pianist, composer and arranger based in New York City, and a recent graduate of the joint program of Columbia University and Juilliard School of Music. His music has earned numerous awards, including the ASCAP Young Jazz Composers Award and several Downbeat Student Music Awards (for both best original composition and best original arrangement). He has played with the Bachiana Brasileira Orchestra at Lincoln Center (with Joao Carlos Martins and Dave Brubeck), in Delhi, India, at the Masten Jazz Festival, Richmond Jazz Festival, Mid-Atlantic Jazz Festival, Lincoln Center Out of Doors Festival, the DUMBO Arts Festival, Musikfest and Music Mountain Festival, as well as Carnegie Hall, Dizzy's Club Coca-Cola, the Allen Room, Webster Hall, Symphony Space and The Blue Note.
Ben has composed for Ryland Angel, has arranged for Katini Yamaoka, and has worked extensively with such jazz luminaries as Curtis Lundy, Neal Smith, Winard Harper, Wayne Escoffery and Deborah Davis. He has also shared the stage with Houston Person, Jerry Dodgion, Warren Wolf, Dave Stryker, Clarence Penn, Craig Handy, Bob Nieske, Stacy Dillard, Chris Washburne, Eliot Zigmund, Ameen Saleem, Yasushi Nakamura, Josh Evans, Patience Higgins, James Cammack, Steve Nelson, Essiet Essiet, TS Monk, Kenny Davis, Rogerio Boccato, and Willie Williams, and he has performed alongside Wycliffe Gordon, Brian Lynch and Phil Woods as a member of the prestigious New York Youth Symphony Jazz Band. Recently, he was a finalist at the 2015 American Jazz Piano Competition in Melbourne, Florida, and 2016 Jacksonville Jazz Piano Competition in Jacksonville.
One Trick Dog is a small independent label specializing in jazz, fusion and blues. The members are a collective of recording artists, sound designers, engineers, arrangers and composers. The label is affiliated with Avidon Audio Labs, which has tracked, mixed and mastered numerous contemporary jazz, classical and blues albums. Dev Avidon, the senior engineer at AVAL, has also produced a number of the artists on OneTrickDog*. Recent albums include Tom Larsen's Loving/Losing, Wayne Tucker's When I Was a Child, and Peruvian drummer Juan Carlos Polo's Insomnio. In 2017, OneTrickDog* is slated to release five albums, including SaRon Crenshaw's first studio blues album and Wayne Tucker's second jazz album.
01. Because It's Raining 4:09
02. Clarisse and Walter 4:04
03. And Then It's Gone 5:54
04. Saucer Eyes 5:07
05. Nica 5:01
06. First Song 5:51
07. Blur 4:57
08. Far Back 5:57
09. Azucar 6:01
10. Single Petal of a Rose 3:57
11. When Love Was You and Me 5:14
