There's a variety of assumptions to be made from
saxophonist Ori Kaplan titling his new CD Le Magus.
The suggestion could be that Kaplan is a sorcerer, one
of the wise men who traveled to Bethlehem to greet
the newborn Jesus or the twisted, manipulative
millionaire of the John Fowles novel. In a sense,
though, any of those could point to the same thing:
that with his new release, you should give up on
having expectations of Ori Kaplan.
The disc finds him somewhere between his
previous jazz-leaning discs and the cabaret of his work
with Gogol Bordello. While crossing that terrain of
camp and circus music, Kaplan might have found the
Kamikazee Ground Crew, Roy Nathanson or Steve
Bernstein. But the land is wide, and the villages small.
There is plenty of ground to cultivate, and to dismiss
this as another kitschy, klezzy downtown disc would
be selling it short.
The last decade of downtown jazz in no small part
has been about finding new roots for the American
improvisation tradition. Sephardic sounds no doubt
emerged victorious, and are now as much a staple of
New York jazz as southern blues once was. Alone, that
would prove sterile. But jazz is about musicianship,
and Le Magus is a case (not the only one) where
musicianship shines and tradition remains the
foundation, not the summation. The quintet — which
includes drummer Geoff Mann's mandolin and pianist
Andrew Bemkey doubling (tripling?) on organ and
clarinet — is further augmented by Marcus Rojas' tuba,
Steve Ulrich on guitar and Eugene Hutz contributing
some unforgettable vocals.
If a soundscape for a shvitz is all it takes to fill
your heart, Le Magus will no doubt suffice. But if
you're one who's always looking for the next new
voice in old traditions, Le Magus contains that too. The
band also includes Tamir Muskat on drums and Adam
Roberts on bass, along with the leader's alto and
powerful baritone.
This review first appeared in the September 2002 issue of All About Jazz: New York .
Style: Modern Jazz
Published: September 10, 2002
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There's a variety of assumptions to be made from
saxophonist Ori Kaplan titling his new CD Le Magus.
The suggestion could be that Kaplan is a sorcerer, one
of the wise men who traveled to Bethlehem to greet
the newborn Jesus or the twisted, manipulative
millionaire of the John Fowles novel. In a sense,
though, any of those could point to the same thing:
that with his new release, you should give up on
having expectations of Ori Kaplan.
