Benjamin Koppel & Kenny Werner - Walden (CD)

With the release of Walden the collaboration between Koppel and Werner has truly solidified.  Walden is their first release as a duo – a conversation for piano and saxophone.

The title Walden comes from the masterpiece of American literature, “Walden, or Life in The Woods,” published in 1854, and written by the social reformer, philosopher, and naturalist, Henry David Thoreau. In his book Thoreau describes in both simple and poetic language his reflections upon life during his two years spent in a small cabin at Walden Pond in symbiosis with the woods, the water and the wildlife.

Koppel and Werner have let themselves be inspired by Thoreau’s words. Just as Thoreau presents tableaux and portraits of the nature he experiences and the people he meets while contemplating about society, economics, and the self-reliance of man, the nine tracks on this CD are musical examinations of the moods and lyrical elements inherent in the music. In Walden Koppel and Werner’s nine pieces merge into a melodic and lyrical song cycle without words. The titles are all from the writings of Henry David Thoreau.

The simple and unsentimental connection between them happened spontaneously one April night in a recording studio in Copenhagen, Denmark in 2009 after a ten-hour recording session with Benjamin Koppel’s father organ player Anders Koppel and percussionist Jacob Andersen. Taken by the mood they both felt, Benjamin Koppel & Kenny Werner got back into the recording booth to spontaneously create these musical conversations. The lyrical and quiet combination of sax and piano presented on this CD is a result of that creative process.

Neither of the artists knew what to expect before they began. Each observed and absorbed the other musician’s phrasing, discovered the poetry in it, and submerged the self for the purpose of a true collaborative expression. The two matched musicians listened to each other, inspired each other, and came together in an improvised and intuitive musical dialogue. The music naturally created that special evening was captured on Walden.

Benjamin Koppel - soprano & alto sax

Kenny Werner - piano