Ben Monder - Planetarium (Sunnyside)

Guitarist Ben Monder has spent decades at the side of other musicians, enhancing their recordings with his dazzling technique, extensive imagination, and exquisite taste. Simultaneously, he’s been building a superlative catalog of leader albums, expertly balancing thoughtful composition with free-flowing improvisation. It’s all been building up to this: Planetarium, a three-disk magnum opus, ten years in the making.

While never shy about including all of his interests in a single project, Planetarium is the truest fusion of his sensibilities yet. It’s jazz, but not only jazz; the influences of ambient music, classical music, folk music, and experimental rock abound. The tracks range from melodic solo improvisations to full band epics swirling with wordless voices, shifting rhythms, and Monder’s impeccable tone. Songs like “Where or When,” Noctivagant,” and “3PSC” (based on jazz guitar legend Mick Goodrick’s book Almanac of Guitar Voice-Leading) incorporate traditional jazz harmonies within free-flowing, semi-ambient pieces, while massive cuts like “Ataraxa,” “Ouroboros I,” and “The Mentaculus” present widescreen visions executed without pretension or bombast. The music moves all over the map, but does so with conceptual unity, so the record never sounds out of focus – not even when Monder’s mother makes an appearance singing “Wayfaring Stranger,” under which her son adds plangent guitar.

Monder is joined here by compadres old and new, including drummers Ted Poor, Joseph Branciforte, and Satoshi Takeishi, bassist Chris Tordini, and vocalists Theo Bleckmann (with whom he’s worked for twenty-plus years), Charlotte Mundy, Emily Hurst, and Theo Sable. Together they form a mini-orchestra dedicated to exploring sound – wandering toward the edges of their boss’s vision, finding the balance between letting their talents shine and shaping them to serve the songs. Perhaps the pinnacle of an already remarkable career, the sprawling, sinuous Planetarium is a magnificent achievement.