2007 · Album
In Pursuit
Recorded 2006 · Sunnyside Records · Produced by Donny McCaslin, David Binney
Ben Monder's Guitar Shapes a Restless Pursuit
Monder's guitar work pushes McCaslin into sharper, stranger territory than a typical saxophone-led session.
Ben Monder is the reason this album sounds different. His guitar doesn't accompany McCaslin so much as argue with him — textured, withheld, sometimes almost ambient, other times intrusive and dissonant. Where you might expect warm saxophone lyricism over walking bass and brushes, instead you get angular conversations between woodwinds and strings, space that feels earned rather than given.
McCaslin assembled a band built for tension. Scott Colley on bass and Antonio Sánchez on drums keep time, but loosely, allowing Monder and David Binney (on alto) room to color outside traditional changes. Pernell Saturnino adds percussion that registers as texture rather than timekeeping. Nothing here settles comfortably. The record moves through shifting moods — sometimes close to fusion, sometimes abstract, occasionally almost folk-influenced — without advertising what it's doing. Tracks breathe unevenly. Solos emerge and recede without fanfare.
This is early in McCaslin's recorded leadership, before his later work with larger ensembles and before his high-profile session work elsewhere. In Pursuit feels like a player still figuring out what he wants to say, and Monder's restless guitar was exactly the right collaborator to push that conversation forward. It's a solid band date, interesting for specific reasons rather than flashy ones.
Who's playing
Scott Colleybass
Ben Monderguitar
David Binneyalto saxophone
Antonio Sánchezdrums
Pernell Saturninopercussion
Donny McCaslinwoodwind
Where next?
More by Donny McCaslin
All 30 albums →
The musicians on this record
Their own records, close in time
