Benjamin Herman, Café Solo (Roach Records)
A Review
Dutch alto saxophonist Benjamin Herman’s latest album, Café Solo, couldn’t be simpler in concept: get a swinging trio together, record a collection of standards live, and make the sound of the horn the focal point of the
album. Sitting in a comfortable chair, with Ernst Glerum (bass) and Joost Patocka (drums) behind him, Herman delivers a series of relaxed performances that take the
listener all over the saxophone.
There’s a compelling intimacy in the performances that makes it easy to imagine the three are playing a final set in a near-empty club in the middle of the week. They’re playing for
themselves, and kissed by midnight, the performances have a moving honesty shorn of
affectation.