High Heart, the 5th album as a leader from US saxophonist Ben Wendel, is a personal statement that opens a discussion about how artists 'create art that is personal and meaningful in an increasingly impersonal time’.
Music composed by Ben Wendel
Produced by Ben Wendel
Executive producer Dave Stapleton
Ben Wendel currently plays the KB Saxophone Vanguard Neck, Boston Sax Shop reeds and ligature.
Nate Wood endorses Gretsch Drums, Istanbul Agop Cymbals, Remo Drumheads, Promark Sticks and Drum Workshop Hardware.
Gerald Clayton is a Yamaha artist and appears courtesy of Blue Note Records. Yamaha CFX provided courtesy of Yamaha Artist Services, New York
Joe Sanders plays D'addario Strings and AKG Microphones.
Mixed by Nate Wood.
Mastered by Nate Wood at Kerseboom Mastering NY.
Artwork design by Oli Bentley, Split.
Photos by Shervin Lainez and Dave Stapleton
High Heart is the 5th album by US saxophonist and composer Ben Wendel. With a surge of interest in his profile over the last few years, Ben returns with an album that is his most definitive yet.
It is a personal statement and reflection of his own journey in a society of increasing complexity, oversaturation, and social imbalance. An album that opens discussion and raises questions about how artists create art that is personal and meaningful in an increasingly impersonal time.
As Ben explains: “The digital age has created a profound paradigm shift and challenged what it means to be an artist. It has potentially democratized culture to the point of irrelevance. There is no longer high or low – culture or entertainment – it has become about relevance or irrelevance. What is the best way to navigate this time while retaining a sense of authenticity, vulnerability and identity? Although this is a fundamental question for artists in any era, it feels particularly difficult to answer at the moment. In this sense, High Heart is more a question than a statement.
The song titles in this project refer to different challenges I have experienced while interfacing with a global audience. For example, “Drawn Away” refers to the dangers of technological overuse and losing perspective, while “High Heart” speaks to the human desire to connect and express through these new mediums at the risk of feeling isolated and cut off.
Ultimately, High Heart is a project of hope, and for me, a focused and personal message in a time where it has become harder for all artists to find their way through the noise.”
Available formats:
* Coloured Vinyl Album
“With his technical fluency, strategic melodic thinking and cleanly dusted tone, Wendel has become an idol to an entire generation of young tenor saxophone students”.The New York Times
The artwork, designed by British designer, Oli Bentley, beautifully incorporates the message that drives the whole album. Each and every cover of the Ltd Edition Coloured Vinyl run will be individually hand painted. As Oli explains: “We talked a lot about the themes of the record and the dilemma of how to connect in a genuine way, not just artist to fan – but human to human – at this time. Ben’s music – and this record in particular – does this so well. My challenge was to rise to the level of his creative statement, and to complement it with the visual artwork. How could we make something special, something personal? This is where the idea of personalising every sleeve was born.
During our first (ironically digital) meeting one evening, without me knowing, my 5-year-old son had crept out of bed and slipped a postcard under the door for me. On it was drawn a simple, black line-drawing of a heart. The simplicity and innocence of the symbol, its link to the title we had just been discussing, and the human connection it made through a closed door – I knew there wasn’t anything I could possibly bring to this project that was more personal or contained more humanity than this”.
Used to monitor number of Google Analytics server requests
10 minutes
__utmb
Used to distinguish new sessions and visits. This cookie is set when the GA.js javascript library is loaded and there is no existing __utmb cookie. The cookie is updated every time data is sent to the Google Analytics server.
30 minutes after last activity
__utmc
Used only with old Urchin versions of Google Analytics and not with GA.js. Was used to distinguish between new sessions and visits at the end of a session.
End of session (browser)
__utmz
Contains information about the traffic source or campaign that directed user to the website. The cookie is set when the GA.js javascript is loaded and updated when data is sent to the Google Anaytics server
6 months after last activity
__utmv
Contains custom information set by the web developer via the _setCustomVar method in Google Analytics. This cookie is updated every time new data is sent to the Google Analytics server.
2 years after last activity
__utmx
Used to determine whether a user is included in an A / B or Multivariate test.
18 months
_ga
ID used to identify users
2 years
_gali
Used by Google Analytics to determine which links on a page are being clicked
30 seconds
_ga_
ID used to identify users
2 years
_gid
ID used to identify users for 24 hours after last activity
24 hours
_gat
Used to monitor number of Google Analytics server requests when using Google Tag Manager
1 minute
_gac_
Contains information related to marketing campaigns of the user. These are shared with Google AdWords / Google Ads when the Google Ads and Google Analytics accounts are linked together.
90 days
__utma
ID used to identify users and sessions
2 years after last activity
SourceBuster is used by WooCommerce for order attribution based on user source.
Name
Description
Duration
sbjs_udata
Information about the visitor’s user agent, such as IP, the browser, and the device type
session
sbjs_first
Traffic origin information for the visitor’s first visit to your store (only applicable if the visitor returns before the session expires)
session
sbjs_current
Traffic origin information for the visitor’s current visit to your store
session
sbjs_first_add
Timestamp, referring URL, and entry page for your visitor’s first visit to your store (only applicable if the visitor returns before the session expires)
session
sbjs_current_add
Timestamp, referring URL, and entry page for your visitor’s current visit to your store
session
sbjs_migrations
Technical data to help with migrations between different versions of the tracking feature
session
sbjs_session
The number of page views in this session and the current page path
30 minutes
Marketing cookies are used to follow visitors to websites. The intention is to show ads that are relevant and engaging to the individual user.
A video-sharing platform for users to upload, view, and share videos across various genres and topics.
Registers a unique ID on mobile devices to enable tracking based on geographical GPS location.
1 day
VISITOR_INFO1_LIVE
Tries to estimate the users' bandwidth on pages with integrated YouTube videos. Also used for marketing
179 days
PREF
This cookie stores your preferences and other information, in particular preferred language, how many search results you wish to be shown on your page, and whether or not you wish to have Google’s SafeSearch filter turned on.
10 years from set/ update
YSC
Registers a unique ID to keep statistics of what videos from YouTube the user has seen.
Session
DEVICE_INFO
Used to detect if the visitor has accepted the marketing category in the cookie banner. This cookie is necessary for GDPR-compliance of the website.
179 days
LOGIN_INFO
This cookie is used to play YouTube videos embedded on the website.
Instagram
Youtube
Spotify
Bandcamp
Apple Music
Facebook
