I recently reviewed Ben Stephner’s Sleeping In The Forest, an above average ambient album with ethereal guitar and electronic effects. Since then he has released a number of other albums all just as good or better. As Ben Stepner is primarily a jazz pianist I was especially excited to see two piano albums available. Music fans can now get a more rounded perspective of this talented musician.

Ben Stepner is joined by Bassist Dan Durham and drummer Matt Rousseau on Ode to NEC. This is a jazz trio album that ranges from Bill Evans-ish flourishes as heard on the ironically titled “Cecil Taylor” to more Taylor styled dissonance on “The Nature of Sound”. This is excellent jazz throughout with both Durham and Rouseau right with Stepner every step of the way.

Nineteen Pieces for Piano is also excellent and spotlights the pianist on 19 original solo piano compositions. Both albums features all original material by Stepner. Again there is a variety of sounds ranging from the blues influenced “The Cosmic Lesson” to an impressionistic “Shower”. The pianist has an impressive pallet of colors and tones. This is another excellent album and one of the best piano efforts I’ve featured on Free Albums Galore.

Lucid Dreaming and Reflections returns to ambient guitar and electronics. The albums are more in line with the earlier Sleeping In The Forest. If you looking for ambient styled soundscapes or meditative music these may be what you are looking for. As for me, I have been playing those two piano jazz albums a lot in the past few days.

The albums are in MP3 format. You can either directly download them from the links below, which were provided by permission of the artist, or you can go to the Pure Potentiality Records web site and not only download these albums but other good jazz and ambient offerings by Stepner and other artists.

Download
Ode To NEC
Nineteen Pieces For Piano
Lucid Dreaming
Reflections