Ben Kono: woodwinds, composition
Pete McCann: guitar
Henry Hey: piano
Kermit Driscoll: bass
Satoshi Takeishi: drums and percussion
The Ben Kono Group returns to the Cornelia Street Cafe and presents a new body of work commissioned by Chamber Music America New Jazz Works/Doris Duke Charitable Foundation in a world premiere performance. Project "Don't Blink" is an extended suite written for multiple woodwinds and jazz quintet tracing the composer's personal reflections on humanity's sometimes comical, often destructive, relationship with the environment. The Group's CD "Crossing" garnered some well-earned praise, placing it in the top ten of the Jazz Journalists Association's debut albums of 2011, and the new work capitalizes on the extraordinary breadth of color and imaginative improvising these world class musicians are capable of sharing.
"Mr. Kono, a versatile woodwinds specialist — he’ll play tenor saxophone, clarinets, flutes and oboe here, along with English horn — has a gleaming new album, “Crossing” (Nineteen-Eight), that establishes his style as a bandleader-composer: cosmopolitan and unflappable, with a feel for rallying his sidemen."--Nate Chinen, The New York Times, Feb.17, 2011
"An overpoweringly great record!"--Bill Milkowski, Jazz Times