Colors Live at Kito Bremen Yelena Eckemoff

• 1White (Live at KITO Bremen)04:53
• 2Pink (Live at KITO Bremen)04:36
• 3Orange (Live at KITO Bremen)03:50
• 4Green (Live at KITO Bremen)05:27
• 5Violet (Live at KITO Bremen)05:19
• 6Indigo (Live at KITO Bremen)02:57
• 7Blue (Live at KITO Bremen)05:45
• 8Red (Live at KITO Bremen)06:25
• 9Brown (Live at KITO Bremen)03:48
• 10Bordeaux (Live at KITO Bremen)05:46
• 11Yellow (Live at KITO Bremen)05:45
• 12Aquamarine (Live at KITO Bremen)03:55
• 13Grey (Live at KITO Bremen)02:27
• 14Black (Live at KITO Bremen)06:53
• Total Runtime01:07:46

Info for Colors Live at Kito Bremen

Yelena Eckemoff's piano solo interpretation of her Colors album (2019 feat. Manu Katche on drums) at the live performance in Bremen, Germany, on April 25, 2019.

"Composer and pianist Yelena Eckemoff's Colors (L&H Production, 2019) was a duet with drummer Manu Katche, a unique instrumentation in her ever-growing list of works. His contributions were so singular that when she had an opportunity to celebrate the album release by playing the music live at KITO in Bremen, Germany in 2019, and he could not make the gig, she opted to play solo rather than hire another drummer. It was the first time in about 15 years that she took the stage as a piano soloist, because she stopped performing as a classical concert pianist after starting her jazz journey.

For this live performance, she kept the track order of the original album, because the story behind the album represented colors as stages of life, from birth (white) to death (black). Not having a drummer keeping time, she played more freely, focusing on nuances of the phrasing. The chosen tempos were quite different (often faster) to when playing with Katché. Despite this, the lengths of the pieces were close to the recordings for the most part, which probably illustrates the strength of the compositional structures.

The opener "White" is an exception to this rule, running a little over half the length of the recording. Much of the time difference can be explained by the pacing. The duet version featured call-and-response, with the theme introduced after some preparation. The solo version launches into the theme almost immediately, and Eckemoff's playing is loose and rhapsodic. While recognizable as the same composition, the solo treatment casts a new light on it.

"Orange" maintains its blues feeling from the original, as does "Green." "Blue" is another track which is rendered in a more compact form as a piano solo, but here the form defines the music, producing a version close to the original. So it continues through the finale, "Black," in which Eckemoff concludes the spectrum in a reflective mood, although thankfully not as gloomy as the color theme implies. The original duet performance spotlighted Eckemoff as both pianist and composer; this solo version does so even more strongly. It is a worthy addition to her discography, sure to interest any fans of her work." (Mark Sullivan, All About Jazz)

Yelena Eckemoff, piano

Recorded live on April 25th, 2019, at KITO Vegesack, Bremen, Germany

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 Colors Live at Kito Bremen