We’re halfway through the second day of the “Vital Signs” recording sessions with woodwind great Bennie Maupin and his Polish quartet. We’re working at a wonderful studio in Warsaw with a brilliant young engineer named Sebastian Witkowski. He’s getting really great sounds on all of Bennie’s instruments. So far Bennie has played his signature bass clarinet on “Escondido,” alto flute on pianist Michal Tokaj’s “Tears,” tenor saxophone on Bennie’s “Inner Sky” and soprano saxophone on a surprising remake of Bennie’s old tune “The Jewel in the Lotus.” This last piece is of course the title track of his 25 year-old ECM recording of the same name, which has just been re-released on CD for the first time. I can’t help but think that Bennie’s recent CD Penumbra on Cryptogramophone had a little something to do with the long overdue re-release of this true classic. The new version of TJITL is more rhythmic and dynamic than the original, which has a nice spacious feel to it. Right now we are about to start recording another of Bennie’s pieces called “Early Reflections,” also on soprano sax. Like many of Bennie’s titles, this one has several meanings, as early reflections has a specific meaning in acoustical terms, as well as personal significance for Bennie, who wakes up at 5AM every morning to meditate and chant. As you can see this recording is going to be a mixture of some of Bennie’s classic material, recent pieces his band has been playing for a while, and new tunes that Bennie is showing them for the first time in the studio.
I must say that I’m very excited about this recording, and things are going remarkably well. Bennie sounds great on all his instruments, and his young Polish band of Michal Tokaj on piano, Michal Baranski on bass, and Lukaz Zyta on drums are all amazing musicians. They really have a great rapport with each other. It was a bit of a risk to travel to a foreign country, work with an unknown (to us) sound engineer in an unknown studio, but so far all of our risks have been rewarded with great results. I can’t wait for people to hear this music in the Spring of 2008.
I’ll have a couple of more reports from Warsaw in the coming days as things progress. Thanks for checking in on us. - Jeff Gauthier
