Understory: Live at the Village Vanguard Ben Wendel

• 1 Lu (Live) 10:25
• 2 Proof (Live) 11:01
• 3 On the Trail (Live) 09:56
• 4 Scosh (Live) 10:26
• 5 Jean & Renata (Live) 07:54
• 6 I Saw You Say (Live) 08:00
• 7 Tao (Live) 08:17
• Total Runtime 01:05:59

Info for Understory: Live at the Village Vanguard

Recorded at the most storied of all jazz venues, Understory: Live at the Village Vanguard is the vibrant new album from master saxophonist and composer Ben Wendel featuring a world-class rhythm section — Gerald Clayton (piano), Linda May Han Oh (bass) and Obed Calvaire (drums)

Understory: Live at the Village Vanguard is the new album from master saxophonist Ben Wendel featuring the superstar team of Gerald Clayton - Piano, Linda May Han Oh - Bass, Vocals and Obed Calvaire - Drums. Recorded at possibly the most storied of all jazz venues, this is a vibrant, effervescent album bursting with vitality and energy, scintillating with musicianship and virtuosity.

Understory: Live at the Village Vanguard is Wendel’s first live album and follows his Grammy nominated release All One. The Village Vanguard is one of the most famous of jazz venues, known for groundbreaking performances by everyone from Bill Evans to Miles Davis, Coltrane to Roland Kirk. It’s every jazz musician’s dream to play here. It offers a sense of that history, and a unique ambience to any recording, one that Understory: live at the Village Vanguard fully embraces.

Understory: Live at the Village Vanguard, sees Wendel resume the themes of tension, contrast and conflict that he worked out in his first Edition album High Heart. If there’s an identity flowing through all Ben's albums it is this feeling of continually pushing the boundaries, not settling for the obvious or the expected. Where High Heart focussed on the tension between high art and low art, between digital and analogue, quick to produce and slow to produce, mass and individual, Understory: Live at the Village Vanguard zooms in on the tension within his own identity as an artist on the one hand and as a musician. It picks at the difference between his role as a ‘jazz’ musician and his questing for more progressive forms of expression. While this is in one sense the most ‘jazz’ album he has made (and it works brilliantly as a live jazz record, bursting with energy and ideas), Wendel elevates his sound with pedals, and his compositions extend to the outer reaches of his band's ability, commanding a deep musicianship.

There are good reasons why Wendel has cultivated a devoted and faithful fan base. His continual questing for the new allied to his instrumental prowess and compositional talent make him a special musician who stands out even in the great company of his peers. The tensions inherent in his work and his identity lift Understory: Live at the Village Vanguard out of ordinary and into the realms of the legendary recordings made at this storied club.

Ben Wendel, saxophone, effects
Gerald Clayton, piano
Linda May Han Oh, bass, vocals
Obed Calvaire, drums

Recorded live at the Village Vanguard, 4-6 November, 2022 by Chris Allen, assistant engineer Andrew Kochinka
Mixed by Chris Allen
Mastered by Nate Wood at Kerseboom Mastering
Produced by Ben Wendel
Executive producer Dave Stapleton & Tom Korkidis

Ben Wendel
Grammy nominated saxophonist Ben Wendel was born in Vancouver, Canada and raised in Los Angeles. Currently living in Brooklyn, NY, he has enjoyed a varied career as a performer, composer and producer. Highlights include tours, performances and/or recordings with artists such as Tigran Hamasyan, Antonio Sanchez, Gerald Clayton, Eric Harland, Taylor Eigsti, Linda May Han Oh, Moonchild, Louis Cole, Daedelus, Snoop Dogg and the artist formerly known as Prince. Ben is a founding member of the Grammy nominated group Kneebody.

As a composer, he has received an ASCAP Jazz Composer Award, the 2008, 2011 and 2017 Chamber Music America “New Works Grant” and was awarded the Victor Lynch-Staunton award by the Canada Council For The Arts. He also co-wrote the score for John Krasinski's adaptation of David Foster Wallace’s "Brief Interviews With Hideous Men."

Ben was honored to work with conductor Kent Nagano in producing a series of concerts for the Festspiel Plus in Munich, Germany. From 2008 to 2015, he produced a multi-genre performance series at the Broad Stage in Santa Monica, California. During that time he was appointed the head of their Jazz and Blues initiative, which included producing and expanding performance opportunities for these genres in Los Angeles. As part of this appointment, Ben helped to create an artistic council which included such luminaries as Quincy Jones, Herb Alpert and Luciana Souza. Ben’s producer work includes the Grammy nominated album "Life Forum" for pianist Gerald Clayton on Concord Records.


Ben has recorded for Edition Records, Sunnyside Records, Motéma Music, Concord Records and Brainfeeder, with five solo albums under his belt, Simple Song (2009), Frame (2012), What We Bring (2016) The Seasons (2018), High Heart (2020), a duo project with French-American pianist Dan Tepfer entitled Small Constructions (2013) and multiple Kneebody albums. His critically acclaimed music video project The Seasons, inspired by Tchaikovsky’s works of the same name, was released throughout 2015 and included guests such as Joshua Redman, Jeff Ballard, Mark Turner, Julian Lage, Ambrose Akinmusire and more. It was listed as one of the best releases of 2015 by the NY Times.

Ben is a former Adjunct Professor of Jazz Studies at USC and a current Adjunct at the New School in NYC. Educational outreach has been a constant in his career with over 300 masterclasses at various colleges, universities, high-schools and also previous work with the LA Philharmonic Artist Program.

This album contains no booklet.