Jazz Articles about Oded Tzur

About Oded Tzur

Album Review

Oded Tzur: In The Arms Of A True Believer

Read "In The Arms Of A True Believer" reviewed by David Bruggink

by David Bruggink
October 30, 2026

Just months after Make A Sound (Sky River Music, 2026), the first full album on his new label, Sky River Music, saxophonist Oded Tzur returns with a confident, exhilarating set of compositions. In the Arms of a True Believer reunites him with past collaborators Petros Klampanis (bass), Nitai Hershkovits (piano), and Cyrano Almeida (drums), and adds two new voices: Anais Benoit on piccolo and Corentin Morvan on euphonium. The pair brings a sprightly, intricate melodicism to the music. Longtime followers will notice this evolution right ...

Album Review

Oded Tzur: Make A Sound

Read "Make A Sound" reviewed by David Bruggink

by David Bruggink
March 29, 2026

Make A Sound marks the first full release from saxophonist and composer Oded Tzúr's fledgling label, Sky River Music. After a pair of fiery albums for Enja Records and a string of esteemed releases on ECM Records, Tzúr sets out in a new direction with a set of tracks channeling deeply personal expression through his Indian-influenced jazz. He is accompanied on this journey by an experienced group of collaborators: Joe Martin (bass), Nasheet Waits (drums), Vanraj Shastri (sarangi), and Gilad Hekselman (guitar). Guitar and sarangi bring entirely ...

Album Review

Oded Tzur: Make A Sound

by David Bruggink
November 30, 2025

Storytelling has been part of Oded Tzur's modus operandi since his first album, his reed playing enfolding drama, tension, and narrative shifts like any spellbinding tale. In this 2025 single, the instinct comes into even sharper focus, as he accompanies a newly-assembled band with his words and voice for the first time on record. Tzur is no stranger to accolades, having won much acclaim for his instrumental releases (e.g., the superb My Prophet, ECM Records, 2024). Introducing vocals may ...

Album Review

Oded Tzur: My Prophet

Read "My Prophet" reviewed by Neri Pollastri

by Neri Pollastri
December 23, 2024

Terzo album per ECM per il tenorsassofonista di Tel Aviv, ormai da anni residente a New York, Oded Tzúr, ancora una volta attivo con il suo quartetto, nel quale tuttavia c'è adesso un nuovo batterista --il brasiliano Cyrano Almeida. La musica proposta dall'artista conserva la cifra originale che gli conoscevamo e che egli trae dal suo studio con il flautista indiano Hariprasad Chaurasia, che gli permette da un lato di fondere culture musicali tra loro diversissime, dall'altro di produrre con ...

Album Review

Oded Tzur: My Prophet

Read "My Prophet" reviewed by Mike Jurkovic

by Mike Jurkovic
June 13, 2024

Simultaneously an open call to prayer and a frisky dance of the debutantes, “Epilogue" and “Child You" beckon and pirouette the muse, the spirit, the higher gods of our calling to come and celebrate My Prophet. Crazy good from the solemn “Epilogue" to the rattling closer, “Last Bike Ride In Paris," My Prophet is the current crown jewel in the burgeoning basket of jewels that Israeli-born but Brooklyn-wise saxophonist Oded Tzur has given the world. His fifth overall--including ...

Album Review

Oded Tzur: My Prophet

by Chris May
May 31, 2024

Much like listening to late period John Coltrane or modern-day Charles Lloyd, listening to Oded Tzur is akin to a spiritual experience. The tenor saxophonist's fifth album, My Prophet, is his most affecting yet. Simultaneously corporeal and metaphysical, soulful and cerebral. Inexplicably, despite having four breathtakingly singular and near-perfect albums out and about already, not to mention wall-to-wall media affirmation, Brooklyn-based, Tel Aviv-born Tzur is still a relatively niche name. At its most passionate, his music lacks ...

Catching Up With

Oded Tzur: The Agony And The Ecstasy

by Chris May
May 28, 2024

In late April 2024, in the weeks leading up to the release of his fifth album, My Prophet, Oded Tzur wrote to his mailing list subscribers: “Dear Friends, I'm very excited to share with you that my new album is coming out on ECM Records on June 7." Further down the page, Brooklyn-based, Tel Aviv-born Tzur revealed that My Prophet almost never happened. The recording schedule had been caught up in the trauma immediately following the October 7, 2023 attack ...