Bass Legend Ben Basile Brings Us Home To 74 Leonard Street Where Ska Jazz Is Served All Night

Ben Basile 

74 Leonard Street 

Sleep Walk Sounds 

 

The next single from the forthcoming debut album Benergy from Ben Basile, bassist from Big D and the Kids Table, is here to stay. It’s named after an address, which seeing as it’s Sleep Walk Sounds conjures images of Madness and baggy trousers. It turns out that 74 Leonard Street was a great ska-punk venue that entertained swathes over its all-too-short lifetime. The Old Knitting Factory became the genre’s go-to place in the Manhattan area during the 2000s and some of the most memorable sounds evolved from at least one root in that club. Particularly reputed for the jazz influence on the ska scene, the use of the brass section became more flamboyant and orchestral thanks to the reaction of the crowds to that sound. Ben Basile knows a few things about his specialism, his degree in Music and Jazz Studies makes him an ideal candidate to be the bassist with the universe all his own.  

 

If you’re still in a dressing gown and slippers then it’s okay, this is made for you. A smooth and laid-back sensation laps across the bars as generous brass and bass links arms in arm to manifest a tune. A lean to the left, one side of the orchestra flourishes, a swagger to the right, and the organ and trumpet have a go. Everyone gets to shine in the Benergy sphere, there’s a great reggae backdrop that floats along on classical music inflections that could have come from Chopin. A wandering technique carries the music from phrase to phrase through leafy suburbs of sonically enriching seductions. Or is that productions? The album will be brilliant.  

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