Kara Rusch’s catchy original cover art, entitled Holy Happenin’, attracts your attention from the outset by evoking a saxophone splitting a sea of piano keys. She properly captures the spiritual essence of the recording, for which the music is at least in part a memorial to the late bassist Wilber Morris, as evidenced by the dedication of the opening “Invocation to Wilber” that sets an introspective, if not somber, tone for the recording session. Ban calls this a “soulful ballad album,” which is as good a description as any . . . . Most of the pieces were written by the little-known Ban, whose classical music roots are evident in the structures and in his improvisations . . . . Somethin’ Holy is Ban’s first release as a leader on an American label (he has a couple on the Romanian label Green Records), and it reflects a sensitive spirit at peace with the world who is unafraid of confronting radical challenges. By Steven Loewy.
Sign up for Lucian Ban concert & new releases
