Richard X Bennett: RXB3 (UBU0089)
Ubuntu Music is delighted to announce the signing of the innovative Brooklyn, New York based pianist, Richard X Bennett, for the worldwide release of his next album, RXB3, on 28th May 2021.
Pianist/Composer Richard plays unique and soulful jazz with a sound all his own. He is also known for his fresh approach to Indian raga music. RXB's albums, the jazz-raga quintet Experiments With Truth and the groove jazz trio What Is Now were released simultaneously by Ropeadope Records in 2017. His ambient solo Away From The Many, and piano/electronica collaboration with HUW, Wood/Water, were released in 2018. Richard also has six critically acclaimed raga-based records on major Indian labels. In New York, his groups have performed at Lincoln Center Out of Doors, The Guggenheim Museum, The Rubin Museum and Central Park Summerstage. Internationally, he has played in over twenty countries including a two-month tour of China and India in 2019.
The music that Richard X Bennett creates is undoubtedly experimental in nature and showcases some first-class improvisation, but also retains a whole host of stylish and melodic grooves, making it exciting for those who appreciate the technicality of an accomplished jazz musician, yet is accessible and enjoyable for those who lean toward the R&B / soul end of the musical spectrum. It is this combined with the engaging structures of his compositions and their immediate ‘non-airbrushed’ feel that makes RXB3 a unique offering in today’s musical landscape.
Richard X Bennett recorded RXB3 during the lockdown period with long term collaborator Adam Armstrong on bass and new drummer Julian Edmond, who originally comes from a gospel background. The synergy between the trio is more than apparent on the album.
On RXB3, Richard reimagines the trio as a vehicle for his tuneful songs and weighty, poly-rhythmic, groove-centric piano explorations. He explains: “Each song begins as a bespoke piano pattern. The melodies evolve from these patterns, resulting in a multitude of ideas that exist together. I create modern music with a melodic and funky fabric and then tear it apart. My expectation is that you can listen, dance or vibe to this music at your leisure and pleasure. Listen closer and you will hear jazz, contemporary classical and Indian raga elements threaded throughout. The rhythm section has that bounce I like. I met drummer Julian Edmond during the middle of the pandemic and immediately knew that he could raise the music to a new level. He plays a stripped-down drum set so there’s more air. Adam Armstrong (bass) has that big jazz sound that roots us in the tradition.”
The songs are all by Bennett with the exception of Tum Hi Ho, which is a Bollywood standard written by Mithoon for the movie, Aashiqui 2. Richard elaborates: “In 2019, I played Tum Hi Ho as a lighter encore for my raga concerts in India. Ballads should be all about the feel. If you’re noticing my technique, then I’ve done something wrong.”
RXB3 also features idiosyncratic videos conceived and directed by Bennett himself.
He says: “There are few things duller than videos of musicians recording in a studio interspersed with shots of them relaxing on a couch. We were limited to my waterfront Brooklyn roof this time but that was plenty.”
Concerning his new relationship with Ubuntu Music, Richard shares his thoughts:
“I wanted to release my new trio music on a
1) British,
2) forward-thinking,
3) acoustic
4) jazz-based label.
Bang, bang, bang and BANG! Ubuntu is four for four… I’m chuffed to be part of it.
“Martin (Hummel) is very passionate and informed about music which results in a unique curator’s voice for Ubuntu. Instrumental music can be stimulating, transcendent and appealing for all engaged listeners. It shouldn’t be a tasteless meal that is forced on you but an extraordinary buffet ready to be savoured. These days Ubuntu is serving up some of the best. We hope you heartily enjoy…”
Martin Hummel, Director of Ubuntu Music, gives his perspective on the Label’s latest signing: “Richard’s is, undisputedly, a unique and eclectic breed of the modern piano trio. His compositions are an intoxicating mixture of inviting, seductive melodies which are underpinned by a take-no-prisoners collision of funk-meets-raga-meets-jazz. It’s an addictive musical cocktail for the head, the heart and the feet. We’re only too happy to have Richard join the Ubuntu Music Family.”
