Eric Jensen

Inno­cent When You Dream — Cel­e­brat­ing the Music of Tom Waits Vocal music con­nects with lis­ten­ers through lyrics, melodies, and arrange­ments. Instru­men­tal impro­vi­sa­tion is rare and usu­ally serves as a device for build­ing the energy of the song. The mys­tery of a mag­i­cal pop or rock tune lies in the mix of lyric, melody, and pre­sen­ta­tion. Jazz on the other hand is about vir­tu­osic instru­men­tal per­form­ers com­pos­ing in real­time with­out a net. The soloist’s abil­ity to spon­ta­neously cre­ate, usu­ally on top of com­plex, rapidly mov­ing har­monies can take the audi­ence on a pow­er­ful and unex­pected emo­tional jour­ney. This stripped-down, solo-driven inten­sity can lend a sta­tic qual­ity, a kind of eso­teric min­i­mal­ism to what many peo­ple think of as “jazz”. Just as jazz har­monies and styles have evolved over the years, rest­less jazz musi­cians have explored new approaches to mak­ing their music, mix­ing impro­vi­sa­tion, ensem­ble writ­ing, and gen­res not usu­ally asso­ci­ated with jazz. For me, this pur­suit of inno­va­tion has always been key. I love music that bal­ances the direct emo­tion of pop and roots styles with the free­dom and sophis­ti­ca­tion of con­tem­po­rary impro­vi­sa­tional tech­niques. I was very excited to hear Bran­don Bernstein’s new CD,  “Inno­cent When You Dream — Cel­e­brat­ing The Music of Tom Waits”. The band, Bran­don Bern­stein (gui­tar), Aaron Shragge (trum­pet, shakuhachi), Matt Otto (tenor sax), Greg Leisz (pedal steel and dobro), Ryan McGillicuddy (bass), and Jason Har­nell (drums) take an ensem­ble approach to the mate­r­ial. The group’s sound is wide open but still deeply con­nected to the core of each of these songs. While…