I am a Stranger in This World Yelena Eckemoff

• 1 As Chaff Before the Wind 12:39
• 2 Lighten My Eyes 06:33
• 3 Make Haste to Help Me 07:20
• 4 I am a Stranger in This World 00:00
• 5 Truth in His Heart 09:29
• 6 Like Rain upon the Mown Grass 16:09
• 7 Keep Not Your Silence 10:46
• 8 The Wine of Astonishment 12:07
• 9 I Shall Not Want 08:03
• 10 At Midnight I Will Rise 12:06
• 11 Every Beast of the Field 18:49
• Total Runtime 01:54:01

Info for I am a Stranger in This World

Mit ihrer Erfahrung sowohl in der klassischen Musik als auch im Jazz, als Pianistin und als Komponistin, schafft sie eine ungeheure Vielseitigkeit, manchmal eckig und kantig, dann wieder fließender. Eine Bereicherung für das Klangpanorama des Hörers.

Yelena erweitert den Umfang eines ehrgeizigen persönlichen Projekts mit "I AM A STRANGER IN THIS WORLD".

Die Pianistin und Komponistin setzt ihre Vertonungen biblischer Psalmen fort mit einem hervorragenden Ensemble darunter RALPH ALESSI, DREW GRESS, ADAM ROGERS, UND NASHEET WAITS plus Special Guests.

Das Album ist ein weiterer Teil eines langfristigen musikalischen Projekts, das mit Better Than Gold and Silver (2018) begann und Eckemoff erneut mit dem Trompeter Ralph Alessi und dem Bassisten Drew Gress sowie dem Gitarristen Adam Rogers und dem Schlagzeuger Nasheet Waits zusammenbringt. (Der Geiger Christian Howes - mit Ben Monder und Joey Baron als Ersatz für Rogers bzw. Waits - ist auch auf drei Stücken von Better Than Gold and Silver zu hören).

Eckemoff konvertierte zum Christentum, als sie noch in den letzten Tagen der Sowjetunion in ihrer Heimatstadt Moskau lebte: eine Zeit, in der es noch gefährlich war, Christ zu sein. Ihr neuer Glaube und eine schwer zu beschaffende King-James-Bibel inspirierten sie zusammen mit ihrer Ausbildung in klassischem und Jazz-Piano zu einem Fest der Weisheit und Poesie des Alten Testaments.

Eckemoff findet jedoch mehr als nur Inspiration in den Psalmen. "Ich bin eine Melodikerin, aber die Melodien, die aus den Worten der Psalmen entstehen, sind meiner Meinung nach die besten Melodien, die ich kreiere", sagt sie. "Und ich glaube, das liegt daran, dass diese Worte eine Kraft haben.... Man kann die Kraft spüren, die Gott durch die Musik vermittelt." Natürlich strahlen die Musiker, die mit Eckemoff zusammenarbeiten, ihre eigene Kraft aus. Das Album wurde während der Pandemie 2020 aufgenommen, und man spürt die Leidenschaft von Alessi, Gress, Rogers und Waits, einfach wieder Musik zu machen. Aber das allein erklärt nicht die Zartheit von Rogers' Zeilen in "As Chaff Before the Wind" (eine Vertonung von Psalm 35), die Seele in Alessis sanften Fills in "I Shall Not Want" (aus dem berühmten Psalm 23) oder die volle Bandchemie von "Keep Not Your Silence" (Psalm 83).

"I Am A Stranger In This World" setzt die künstlerische Suche nach einem schönen Klang und neuen Ausdrucksformen fort, an die uns Yelena Eckemoff seit Jahren gewöhnt hat. Diesmal geht sie mit den religiösen Texten noch einen Schritt weiter und kombiniert sie mit Bluesrhythmen und -phrasierungen, um uns auf ein intellektuelles Abenteuer einzuladen, bei dem wir der logischen Erzählung der Klänge nachspüren. Ein großes Abenteuer! (jazz-fun.de)

Yelena Eckemoff, Klavier, Fender Rhodes
Ralph Alessi, Trompete
Adam Rogers, Gitarre
Ben Monder, Gitarre
Christian Howes, Violine
Drew Gress, E-Bass, Kontrabass
Nasheet Waits, Schlagzeug
Joey Baron, Schlagzeug

Yelena Eckemoff
was born in Moscow, Russia, in the Soviet Union. Her parents noticed that she had musical talent when she started to play piano by ear at the age of four. Yelena’s mother, Olga, a professional pianist, became her first piano teacher. At the age of seven Yelena was accepted into an elite Gnessins School for musically gifted children where, in addition to common school subjects, she received extensive training in piano, music theory, music literature, solfeggio, harmony, analysis of musical forms, conducting, composing, and other musical subjects. She was fortunate to study piano with Anna Pavlovna Kantor, who also trained one of today’s most celebrated pianists, Evgeny Kissin. Later Yelena studied piano with Galina Nikolaevna Egiazarova at the Moscow State Conservatory. Upon graduation with Master’s Degree in piano performance and pedagogy, she worked as a piano teacher in one of Moscow music schools, gave solo concerts, attended courses at the Moscow Jazz Studio, played in an experimental jazz-rock band, and composed a lot of instrumental and vocal music.

In 1991, with her husband, Yelena emigrated to the United States. While assimilating and surviving in a new country and raising children, she had to put her musical career on hold. During these years Yelena experimented with synthesizer and MIDI sequencer in her little home studio, then founded an ensemble of local musicians. She self-released albums in various genres including classical, vocal, folk, Christian, and her original music.

She recorded her first jazz album, COLD SUN, in 2009, accompanied by drummer Peter Erskine and Danish bassist Mads Vinding, which proved to be the major turning point in her jazz career. Cold Sun was names one of 15 best jazz CD releases of 2010 by Warren Allen (AAJ) and drew comparisons to the stark music of ECM Records.

From that point on, Eckemoff churned out compelling and focused jazz albums at an astounding pace; she recorded and released four more piano trio records in less than four years engaging such notable jazz musicians as Mads Vinding, Morten Lund, Mats Eilertsen, Marilyn Mazur, Darek Olezskiewicz, Peter Erskine, and Arild Andersen. FORGET-ME-NOT (L & H, 2012) was in the best 10 on CMJ charts for over 10 weeks. “Themes of nature, sounds of isolation, stark settings, and blurred lines between compositional and improvisational elements are visible on all of Eckemoff’s trio dates, but no two records sound exactly the same.” (John Kelman)

For GLASS SONG (L&H, 2013), she reenlisted Erskine and brought bassist Arild Andersen into the fold for the first time. Surprisingly, neither veteran had ever recorded together, but you would never know it. “Eckemoff, Andersen and Erskine create music that’s focused, yet free floating, and open, yet never nebulous. Pure melody is of less importance than the greater narrative in each number, but the music still sings out with melodic grace. While Manfred Eicher and his storied label have nothing to do with this record, Glass Song has that “ECM sound,” if ever it existed. Mystery, blooming musical thoughts and vaguely haunting notions are at the heart of this captivating album.” (Dan Bilawsky)

Yelena Eckemoff ‘s Lions (L&H 2015), with bassist Arild Andersen and drummer Billy Hart is a long but comprehensive look at animals in the wild with human touches, a classical-jazz soundtrack that goes beyond the superficial, intermission grabs for attention and seeks out the feelings beneath the eerily accurate movements.

“EVERBLUE (L&H, 2015) has Arild Andersen, saxophonist Tore Brunborg and drummer Jon Christensen. This Norwegian all-star contingent fits beautifully into Eckemoff’s aesthetic: Andersen with his looming pronouncements like final summations; Christensen with his suggestive rhythmic ambiguity; Brunborg with his clear, clean sound and respect for space. Glass Song, Lions and Everblue contain some of the most powerful, poetic work of Andersen’s long career.” (Thomas Conrad)

“LEAVING EVERYTHING BEHIND (L&H, 2016) is united around themes of departure and loss. Yelena wrote a poem for each piece and made the cover art. She is accompanied by violinist Mark Feldman, whose background is in classical and country music. Several of compositions date from the 1980s; a time when she was just beginning her exploration into jazz. These pieces seem highly refined, replete with airy, vague harmonies that refer equally to Bill Evans and Claude Debussy.” (Mark Sullivan)

BLOOMING TALL PHLOX (L&H, 2017) is intended to evoke different scents that Yelena Eckemoff recalls from her childhood in Russia. These powerful smells trigger a myriad of magical memories, each of which somehow, is transformed into a moveable feast of sounds – melodies set free by Yelena Eckemoff on a gloriously tuned piano and harmonized by Verneri Pohjola, a Finnish horn player, together with Panu Savolainen on vibraphone, Antti Lötjönen on bass and the percussionist colorist Olavi Louhivuori.

Although jazz is associated with improvisation, Eckemoff often writes her tunes out. Her music has been described as classical chamber music in the context of improvisational jazz. She developed a highly acclaimed jazz style that incorporates her classical technique and influences very effectively. With each new record Eckemoff’s distinctive, recognizable approach to melody becomes even more prominent. Yelena Eckemoff uses life and nature’s bouquets as her muse to create the body of work that blends post-modern abstraction, classical thought, and jazz language into a seamless whole. True to her classical-jazz impressionism, Eckemoff sees humanity in nature.

A band leader, producer and co-founder of L & H Production record label, Yelena also gives piano lessons. She had served as a church musician and choir director for over 22 years, until she got too busy with her recording and performing schedule. Yelena believes in hard work, God’s guidance, humanism, and eternal love.

Booklet for I am a Stranger in This World