GO HOME

Ben Goldberg – clarinet   Curtis Fowlkes – trombone
Charlie Hunter – seven string guitar  Scott Amendola – drums

GO HOME has its origins in a recording project put together by Ben in April 2008. Charlie, Scott, and Ben had been talking for a few years about recording together, and saw an opportunity when Scott and Ben would be at the Jazz Standard in New York for a week. Cornetist Ron Miles, who was in town with Bill Frisell, joined them for two days at the Bunker studio in Williamsburg. Ben provided the tunes and a lovely time was had by all. The musical results are documented on the new cd simply entitled Go Home (BAG Production BAG001). After a tour in 2009 Ron found himself too busy and the others saw an opportunity to work with one of their favorite musicians, trombonist Curtis Fowlkes.

Of course, the rapport these musicians have with each other goes back to the vibrant Bay Area music scene of the 1990’s, an incredibly fertile moment when musicians of across a wide range of styles were working things out and learning from each other in clubs and concert spaces. One night might find Ben sitting in with Charlie and Scott in the Charlie Hunter Trio, followed by Charlie dropping by Scott and Ben’s underground collage-based quartet Snorkel, while down the street Tin Hat Trio was developing a new kind of composition-based chamber jazz.

As musicians went their separate ways and involved themselves in new projects, the lessons of this time continued to reverberate in the work of those who were part of it. Working with Ben’s compositions, GO HOME brings together Charlie and Scott’s rootsy, hard-driving grooves and the astute, lyrical interplay of Curtis and Ben. Spacious melody and an incisive feel combine to create a unique and compelling sound.

"Clarinetist/composer Ben Goldberg's new quartet Go Home speaks to a fascinating creative journey that has taken Goldberg from the esoteric realms of the avant-garde to the simple pleasures of syncopation and melody...  A composer with a gift for writing evocative and inviting tunes, he seems to have found a wondrous new vehicle for combining his grounded desire with his far-ranging imagination."                                       -Andrew Gilbert, Metro Santa Cruz

Clarinetist / Composer Ben Goldberg, whom John Zorn has called “one of the greatest clarinetists I have ever heard,” grew up in Denver, Colorado, and received degrees from the University of California and Mills College. He was a pupil of the eminent clarinetist Rosario Mazzeo, and studied with Steve Lacy and Joe Lovano. Ben’s group New Klezmer Trio "kicked open the door for radical experiments with Ashkenazi roots music." (San Francisco Chronicle). In addition to composing for and playing in the Ben Goldberg Quintet, he currently performs in the following groups: Tin Hat; plays monk, a trio with Scott Amendola and Devin Hoff; Myra Melford’s Be Bread; Nels Cline’s New Monastery; and Go Home. A new CD of Ben’s compositions featuring Joshua Redman will be released in 2009. He has performed with, among others, John Zorn, Bill Frisell, Roswell Rudd, Greg Cohen, Don Byron, Mark Feldman, Ellery Eskelin, Zeena Parkins, Mark Dresser, Vijay Iyer, and Jenny Scheinman.

Since coming to prominence in the early 1990’s, guitarist Charlie Hunter has become one of the leading names in jazz, recording 17 albums. Hunter is noted for playing custom-made seven and eight-string guitars, on which he simultaneously plays bass lines, rhythm guitar, and solos. Sean Westergaard describes Hunter's innovative guitar technique as "mind-boggling ... he's an agile improviser with an ear for great tone, and always has excellent players alongside him in order to make great music, not to show off." Charlie co-founded Garage A Trois, a jazz fusion band, with Stanton Moore and Skerik. He has collaborated with Bobby Previte for an ongoing project entitled Groundtruther, and appears on acclaimed jazz bassist Christian McBride's Live At Tonic. The Charlie Hunter Trio currently includes keyboardist Erik Deutsch and drummer Tony Mason.

Curtis Fowlkes is “one of the finest jazz trombonists to emerge in the past couple of decades.” (Jazz Times) In addition to co-founding the Jazz Passengers, Curtis has been a member of the Lounge Lizards, Bill Frisell’s quartet, Henry Threadgill’s Very Very Circus, Charlie Haden’s Music Liberation Orchestra, the Ellington Orchestra led by Louie Bellson, and the Kansas City All-Stars. Other collaborators include John Zorn; Marc Ribot; comedian Harry Shearer; and rock acts including Sherly Crow, Jeb Loy Nichols, and Cibo Matto.

Originally from New Jersey, drummer Scott Amendola has been a fixture of the Bay Area music scene for more than twenty years. First coming to prominence as a member of the hard-hitting Charlie Hunter Trio in the 1990’s, Scott has played with a range of musicians including Madeleine Peyroux, Dave Liebman, and Jacky Terrason. Currently a member of the Nels Cline Singers and plays monk, Scott also finds time to compose and record with the Scott Amendola Group, which features Jenny Scheinman and Jeff Parker.

GO HOME Demo CD available upon request