The driven alto sax player/flute player Benjamin Herman is one of the leading musicians in the contemporary Dutch jazz scene. Not just with his big band formation New Cool Collective, a group of very talented musicians making modern dance music to the example of dance orchestras in the fifties/sixties, but also with his own quartet and his trio he frequently releases albums. Recently the new straight ahead-album Benjamin Herman plays Jaki Byard was born. As can be suspected by the title the album contains a selection of the repertoire of the American multi-instrumentalist Jaki Byard, who died three years ago. It has it that Herman was captured by Byard's music through the enthusiasm of pianist Pierre Christophe, who at one time took lessons with Byard. After a ten day tour the two decided to record their findings. The result is a beautiful, organic sounding album where Herman's playing gets every chance to blossom.
