Bennie Maupin has recorded with Miles Davis, Herbie Hancock, McCoy Tyner, Lee Morgan, Jack DeJohnette, Andrew Hill, and Eddie Henderson, to name only a few. His highly personal bass clarinet sound has helped define such important jazz albums as Miles Davis' Bitches Brew, Jack Johnson, Big Fun and On the Corner, as well as recordings by Herbie Hancock's Mwandishi band, and the Headhunters. Penumbra is a profound musical statement by an important jazz artist who is at the height of his artistic powers.
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"Penumbra" marks the return of the musician who played the spidery, sepulchral bass clarinet lines all over Miles Davis' "Bitches Brew." Mr. Maupin, who also plays saxophones and flute as well as some piano, has lived in California since 1972. He has a pa
Ben Ratliff, New York Times, 5/6/06
Bennie Maupin, whose bass clarinet work helped define Miles Davis' classic Bitches Brew (Columbia, 1969), was an equally key contributor to Herbie Hancock's 1970s Mwandishi and Headhunters groups. In light of this, it's hard to believe that he has release
John Kellman, All About Jazz, 5/8/06
With his first release in eight years, many astute observers of the modern jazz scene should welcome this new outing by multi-reedman Bennie Maupin with open arms. Acclaimed for his stints with keyboardist Herbie Hancock's electric-funk units of the '70s
Glenn Astarita, www.jazzreview.com, 5/9/06
**** Coming from the multi-instrumental camp of Yusef Lateef, Bennie Maupin is deeply involved in modulating instrumental color and texture, but he also likes to tell a story. He shifts between horns (and occasionally piano) as a way of changing
John Corbett, Downbeat, August, 2006
More than a dozen wildly divergent tracks herald the return of reedman Bennie Maupin as a leader. His first new disc in nearly a decade emphasizes sharply etched bass-clarinet work, with shadowy sorties on tenor and soprano, in a quartet without piano. It
Neil Tesser, Jazziz, July 2006
It's been a long time coming, but multi-reed player Maupin finally has made his great album as a leader. A perennial sideman in early fusion bands (most notably on Miles Davis' Bitches Brew) and in Herbie Hancock's Mwandishi, Maupin helped connect har
Ed Hazell, Jazziz, August 2006
Bennie Maupin's first album in eight years is called Penumbra, and there are just so many reasons why this title is completely perfect. Firstly, there's that sound: the bass clarinet; the smoky, murky, deep and dark bass clarinet; the sound
Daniel Spicer, Pop Matters, 9/18/06
