Review by Bill Whiting
Lexington, Kentucky native Ben Sollee follows up his 2010 collaborative project with Daniel Martin Moore on the riveting new recording, Inclusions. Sollee, who began playing cello at an early age, has an easygoing appeal that transcends generations on the echoing ballad, “Embrace.” A member of The Sparrow Quartet with Bela Fleck and Abigail Washburn, Sollee brings an enticing sense of rhythm and harmony to “Close To You.” Jordon Ellis contributes sweeping percussion, and Duane Lundy adds atmospheric rhythm guitar to the barn burner, “Hurting.” Sollee’s unique acoustic style of bass playing permeates the sound scapes of Inclusions, and his lilting vocal delivery inhabits daring improvisational material, such as the expansive mid tempo number, “The Globe.” Recorded and mixed by Lundy at Shangrila Studios in Lexington, Kentucky, Inclusions is a bracing, inventive masterwork from Ben Sollee. It is easily one of the best discs of 2011. Ben Sollee plays the 20th Century Theater, 3021 Madison Rd, Cincinnati, OH on June 5, 2011.
