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Yelena Eckemoff — Scenes from the Dark Ages
(Bandcamp L&H Production cd806151-38, 2025, 2CD / DL)

by Jon Davis, Published 2026-04-03

Scenes from the Dark Ages Cover art

Yelena Eckemoff’s Scenes from the Dark Ages is not the sort of thing I’d normally go for, but in the end, it won me over, at least partially. This double CD set (an hour and three quarters in length) centers around Eckemoff’s keyboards, with guest musicians to comprise a sextet. The drummer is Trilok Gurtu, and his playing is stellar as always; the others are Riccardo Bertuzzi (electric guitar), Carlo Nicita (soprano, alto, and bass flutes), Eloisa Manera (acoustic and electric violin), and Riccardo Oliva (electric bass). Taking as her inspiration a highly romanticized version of the Middle Ages, Eckemoff’s compositions take the trappings of music from Baroque through Romantic and put them in a light jazz-rock context. At times, a listener may be reminded of the less rock-oriented instrumental parts of Rick Wakeman’s concept albums of the 70s, and at other times of Chick Corea’s albums like The Leprechaun or The Mad Hatter, though with less sophisticated chording. The rhythm section of Gurtu and Oliva saves the album for me, with consistently good playing, especially on the more upbeat tunes. It’s all very melodic, with no rough edges or dissonance, and the prominence of flute keeps things airy. At its best, Scenes from the Dark Ages is quite good, but for my taste it’s much too long, and a 50-minute edit would be a much better album.

Filed under: New releases, 2025 releases

Related artist(s): Trilok Gurtu, Yelena Eckemoff

More info
http://yelenaeckemoff.bandcamp.com/album/scenes-from-the-dark-ages

 

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