Marco Benevento – ‘Glera’ album review: A genre-defying hark back to the age of library LPs
Library LPs are a lost art in the digital age we currently inhabit, but the artists and composers capable of creating the world-building instrumental albums that might once had sat in a KPM series or formed the soundtrack of a low-budget B movie certainly haven’t gone anywhere, as Marco Benevento is keen to make clear on Glera.
The Skinny: A rather unavoidable figure in America’s 21st-century jazz landscape, Benevento has repeatedly proven himself as an artist for whom genre is a non-existent barrier. Across both his extensive recording career and lifetime of performing experience, the multi-instrumentalist has embraced everything from classic, old-school jazz to Caribbean reggae and experimental electronica. If, however, you are pressed for time but still wish to experience all the fruits of Benevento’s output, Glera is an excellent reference point.
Built around the distinctive sound of Benevento’s organ stylings, the Big Crown-released LP flows beautifully from the classic age of 1970s funk and soul to Afro-Caribbean rhythms, jazz legacies, and the kind of experimental compositions that wouldn’t feel out of place in a mid-century sci-fi flick – à la Zdeněk Liška.
In that sense, the album owes a great deal to the library albums of yesteryear – records which, for the uninitiated, were created in order to provide cheap, licensable music for film and television, as opposed to tailored scores and compositions. Like Glera, these records were largely instrumental and weren’t often bound by the parameters of one genre. Most importantly, though, they were adept at creating a sonic world or atmosphere, which has been one of Benevento’s greatest strengths since his first emergence.
Travelling from smoky late-night jazz clubs to retro-futurist space ships, sun-soaked beaches, and 1970s car chases, Glera creates a wealth of different worlds within its tracklisting, each flowing into one another with impressive ease. Clearly, it is a work that captures the songwriter’s ever-expanding repertoire, including the ease with which he is able to tie these different sounds together behind the production desk.
Standout Track: ‘Crema’
The Verdict: By the very nature of its debt to the realm of library music, Glera is not a particularly ‘stand-out’ album, but its ability to flit between sounds and generations is certainly a testament to the talents of Benevento and his endless dedication to crafting jazz records that stretch beyond the typical confines of the genre.
Release Date: July 24th, 2026 | Producer: Marco Benevento | Label: Big Crown Records
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