Jazz Articles about Aaron Novik

About Aaron Novik

Album Review

Aaron Novik: Secret of Secrets

Read "Secret of Secrets" reviewed by Glenn Astarita

by Glenn Astarita
May 6, 2012

Aaron Novik blends the readings of the Kabbalah into a nouveau, borderless set of musical inferences, combining horns, strings, electronics and disparate instrumentation with Jewish mysticism and man's destiny into a shadowy portraiture. Featuring ominous passages and weighty movements, the San Francisco-based leader integrates his electric clarinet amid a cavalcade of psycho-rock sorties and lean improvisational segments, embedded into an ultra-progressive program. Here, Jewish traditional music is often low-key, but suitably presented in various forms and flavors. However, ...

Album Review

Aaron Novik: Secret of Secrets

Read "Secret of Secrets" reviewed by Eyal Hareuveni

by Eyal Hareuveni
April 16, 2012

Secret of Secrets is the most ambitious project to date by Bay Area composer and clarinetist Aaron Novik. This dark and epic, deeply personal composition draws its inspiration from the writings of the late 12th century mystic Rabbi Eleazar Rokeach, known as Rabbi Eleazar of Worms. The Rabbi's masterwork, the five-book Secret of Secrets, deals with different mysteries of the spiritual realm, delving into these hidden worlds and divulging the true names of god, the secrets of the divine chariot, ...