Yelena Eckemoff

This is clearly an ensemble performance. Although the entire music was written by Eckemoff, the narrative qualities seem to have required an extended sound palette. Like Chick Corea's forays into storytelling (think of "Romantic Warrior"), this is not just an album of songs, but one with melodic threads that connect the roles and the different movements.

This is clearly an ensemble performance. Although the entire music was written by Eckemoff, the narrative qualities seem to have required an extended sound palette. Like Chick Corea's forays into storytelling (think of "Romantic Warrior"), this is not just an album of songs, but one with melodic threads that connect the roles and the different movements.

Pianist-composer Yelena Eckemoff’s body of elaborate, ambitious jazz concept albums reaches a new virtuosic summit with "Lonely Man and His Fish," to be released April 28. A double-album set, the album is also a long-form parable, a story of deep affection between a human and his beloved pet. An all-star lineup—cornetist Kirk Knuffke, flutist Masaru Koga, bassist Ben Street, and drummer Eric Harland—helps Eckemoff breathe life into the tale.

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.

Die Pianistin, Komponistin und Konzeptkünstlerin Yelena Eckemoff versucht sich mit »Romance of the Moon« an einer etwas anderen, aber nicht minder geistreichen und kühnen Lösung. Als multimedialer Denker hat Eckemoff schon früher Alben gemacht, die sowohl ihre visuelle Kunst als auch Geschichten, Gedichte und Konzepte aus ihrer eigenen Vorstellungskraft einbeziehen. Diesmal präsentiert sie eine Suite von Kompositionen, die von dem großen spanischen Dichter Federico García Lorca inspiriert sind und von einem formidablen italienischen Ensemble interpretiert werden, zu dem der Bassist Luca Bulgarelli, der Schlagzeuger Stefano Bagnoli, der Gitarrist Riccardo Bertuzzi und die weltberühmte Trompetenikone Paolo Fresu gehören.

Colors reflect not only the Russian-born pianist and composer's creative drive, but also her seemingly limitless imagination. Each of the 14 colors she interprets represents a different stage in life, with the songs presented chronologically.

She may rarely perform live in this context, but Yelena Eckemoff has managed to build, over just seven years and a mammoth eleven releases—including her second release of 2017, In the Shadow of a Cloud—a loyal and growing following in the jazz world. It's all the more remarkable for a multi-talented expat Russian pianist who began life in the classical world, and only entered the jazz world in 2010 with Cold Sun. But there's even more to marvel at when it comes to Eckemoff, who relocated to the USA a little over a quarter century ago. Consider her accomplishments over the past seven years: she has released the entire body of jazz work on her own L&H Productions imprint, with only the help of publicists to help get the word out; has produced all of her recordings; and, since 2014's A Touch of Radiance, also contributed original paintings, as well as corresponding poetry to each composition.

In a quick follow-up to her masterful album "Lions", Russian-born and now North Carolina-based pianist Yelena Eckemoff offers up Everblue, the most "ECM Records-sounding" set not on that deservedly esteemed label. It is, rather, released on her own L&H Productions. The names of the sidemen on the date explain in part the ECM-like sound: saxophonist Tore Brunborg, bassist Arild Andersen, and drummer Jon Christensen, the Norwegian contingent, are all long time ECM Records artists, as leaders and hired guns for other players, and their long term contributions have been instrumental in shaping the ECM aesthetic of subtlety, intricacy, and fluid motion.

It takes a discerning eye, or in this case ear, to envision the desert as more than a vast, arid wasteland. Pianist/composer Yelena Eckemoff succeeds in musically portraying many of this daunting environment’s mysteries and its boundless allure on her new recording, "Desert", to be released May 4 on her imprint L&H Production. The quartet outing, the latest in the impressive series of concept albums at the core of the prolific Russian-born, North Carolina-based keyboard virtuoso’s catalog, reunites her with Norwegian bassist Arild Andersen and internationally acclaimed drummer Peter Erskine and features Oregon co-founder Paul McCandless on oboe, English horn, soprano saxophone, and bass clarinet.

Pianist/composer Yelena Eckemoff defines radiance as "a state of happiness or confidence when everything around you is shining". On her 2014's album, "A Touch of Radiance", she explores that idea from 10 different perspectives, drawing rich inspiration from memories, emotions, and dreams, and the inner world where all three intersect. Her quintet here's Mark Turner, Joe Locke, George Mraz & Billy Hart. These four gifted artists respond gorgeously to Eckemoff's music, wringing bold colors and deep feeling from pieces that are both airy and intricate.