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Ben Monder Featured on Christian Finger’s New Album, Zeit Zirkel

ByJoe Barth

Guitarist Ben Monder recently recorded an album with German drummer Christian Finger.

Ben Monder has been on the scene since the early 1990s.  He has worked with literally a “Who’s Who” of jazz artists.  Like many of his colleagues, he got an early start from organist “Brother” Jack McDuff. Of late, he has been part of the Minneapolis-based group The Bad Plus.  He has recently recorded an album with German drummer Christian Finger.  We talked about this new album.

JB:  German drummer Christian Finger has been around the New York scene for about twenty-five years.  When did you first become aware of Christian as a player, and when did you first begin playing with him?

BM:  As far as I remember, I’ve never played with him before this recording, but we have some mutual friends, so I knew about him and have met him several times. It’s possible I’m forgetting an occasion or two.

JB:  Christian wrote all thirteen songs on the album.  What do you appreciate most about Christian as a composer?

BM:  Christian has a personal composing voice, lyrical but also oblique, and tends to avoid clichés. There is a nice variety of tunes on this record, yet it still feels focused.

JB:  The album begins with the ballad entitled “Alta Anima,” where in the first half of the song you seem to double the melody in the trumpet, or tastefully arpeggiate through some angular chord changes.  

BM:  That is a part Christian wrote for guitar. I think the highlight of this tune is the spacious piano solo.

Listen to “Alta Anima”

JB:  I can’t ask about every song. “Hope and Hope” is an up-tempo driver where you improvise very free-tonally, with distortion.

 BM:  Ugh, don’t love my playing on this one…

JB:  The next song beautifully contrasts the funk of the previous tune with your slow arpeggiated chords.

BM:  Credit to Christian for the arpeggios and to Strymon for the nice delay.

JB:  Your distorted tonal pads in “Five Secrets” are quite nice.

BM:  It sounds like we are all playing at different rates, embodying different roles but circling around the same subject.

 JB:  What do you appreciate most about the rhythm section of Christian and bassist Adam Armstrong?

BM:  The rhythm section is there to tastefully serve the music and not call attention to itself. They have great chemistry on this record and play with both energy and sensitivity.

JB:  You and pianist Vadim Neselovskyi seem to give each other space.

BM:  It’s important to navigate the harmonic space when playing with another chordal instrument. This can be tricky, but Vadim is a beautiful player and clearly sensitive to this issue.

 JB:  On the title track, the words “Zeit Zirkel” have something to do with “inner time.” You happen to do an almost drone comping.  Talk about that song.

BM:  A well-placed drone song with static harmony can be very effective. This meditative tune works great in the sequence. Christian illustrates his subject well by using minimal information.

Joe Barth began playing guitar in high school. He stopped playing in his late twenties only to rediscover his love for jazz guitar in his mid-forties. He is an Associate Pastor at Snoqualmie Valley Alliance Church near Seattle. He plays and writes about jazz guitar as a hobby. Before entering the pastorate, Dr. Barth taught church music at Simpson University, Multnomah University, and Crafton Hills College. While serving as a music professor, he was also a music pastor in local churches. Dr. Barth is the author of Voices in Jazz Guitar: Great Performers Tell about Their Approach to Playing (Mel Bay) available at Amazon.com and elsewhere.

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