HERE BY NOW
Ben Goldberg Trio
Music & Arts, 1997Ben Goldberg/clarinet, bass clarinet
Trevor Dunn/bass
Elliot Humberto Kavee/drums
"What you won't hear are screeching solos, long accompanied passages of instrumental exploration, the ping pong of conversation - in fact, almost nothing strays from the exposition of Goldberg's pure tunes in their glory. And they are glorious, memorable tunes indeed. The leader's cagey approach here is to simplify in order to reveal; what is revealed is the complexity already inherent in the bare act of playing together. When he and bassist Trevor Dunn convene on their frequent unison thematic declamations, the nuances of phrasing and timing make for very exciting listening, as does Elliot Humberto Kavee's swell drum accompaniment. And while they're clearly looking to trim the fat, the ensemble does veer from the melodic material, too, albeit is an extremely controlled manner, like an especially terse form of free haiku. But even with all this going for it, 'Here By now' might seem if Goldberg's composition's themselves weren't so enticing, so winningly devised to feature his horn."
—John Corbett, 1997