Act II, a recent trio album by Ben Wendel, Harish Raghavan, and Nate Wood, hits high marks all around. The compositions are interesting and memorable, the playing is on an extremely high level, the ensemble is tight knit, and the sound engineering is gorgeous.
While many reviews focus on various aspects of the music, I thought it might be interesting to instead focus this review on Ben Wendel’s playing and his contributions to the continually emerging virtuosity and expression of the saxophone.
Since its first appearance in jazz and blues, the saxophone has been a technically impressive and emotive instrument. Over its history, various artists have contributed modes of expression, timbral palettes, and technical mastery to the evolution of saxophone playing.
In recent decades, Michael Brecker, Joe Lovano, Rich Perry, Mark Turner, Donny McCaslin, Chris Potter, along with many others have made major contributions in this realm. Ben Wendel is making his own additions to the ever expanding possibilities of the instrument, and ACT II perhaps represents his best recorded saxophone playing so far.
Wendel’s sound on the album is warm yet clear and defined. Each note flows into the next with little change of timbre except when purposefully invoked. Beginning with his improvisation on the opening track, “Unforeseeable,” this smoothness makes his 8th note, triplet, and 16th note lines sound effortless as if he is never technically struggling to execute any of his ideas. His delivery of the melody on “Something New” illustrates how his clarity of tone facilitates expressive micro-shifts of intonation and timbre via alternate fingerings alongside his highly controlled pitch bends and vibrato.
This virtuosity of sound extends to his altissimo register, which, much like Mark Turner’s or Chris Potter’s, comes across as a fully integrated register of the horn. There is a particularly impressive altissimo displays in “Bass Song” in the two phrases starting at 3:28, where Wendel swerves up through the altissimo register and back in triplets and then 16ths with fantastic precision and ease. His control and technical mastery of altissimo put him on par with the best players in this register.
More related to improvisation generally, his rhythmic precision and fluidity are also significant. As on display in all the tracks mentioned so far, Wendel freely shifts between various subdivisions giving his improvisations the illusion of untethered rhythmic flexibility, yet his lines are still solidly within the pocket. His occasional shorter and accented articulations also help his rhythmically complex lines communicate the groove. Check out “Yes You” for how groove oriented his playing can be.
Overall, the album is highly recommended on saxophone merits alone, not to mention the great playing from the other two musicians. If you have not checked out Ben Wendel yet, you owe it to yourself, and ACT II is a great place to start.
More Info:
Check out Ben Wendel’s other projects, tour dates and get the album: www.benwendel.com
About the author:
Ben Britton is the author of the “Complete Approach” series, in-depth studies on sound and overtones, and a blog, Everything Saxophone. His books have been endorsed by the likes of Dave Liebman and Ben Wendel. He is also a composer and performer and has played at major venues throughout the U.S. www.everythingsaxophone.blogspot.com.