Meron Menares Macbride: Live at The Sound Room

Recorded during their 2025 tour, Live At The Sound Room captures Daniel Meron's trio in peak form. The trio was formed in 2024, but Israeli pianist Meron, Chilean bassist Pablo Menares and US drummer Jimmy Macbride have been collaborating for over 15 years in the New York City jazz ecosystem.

The album spans 17 years of Meron's creative output and his equalitarian approach to the trio, which provides a platform for each musician to lead. Their collective exploration relies on strong rhythms powering memorable melodies with Middle Eastern and Latin American influences.

Born in Israel to a family of Egyptian and Syrian descent, Brooklyn-based Meron is a graduate of Berklee College of Music, where he studied under Danilo Pérez and Joe Lovano. He composed all seven tracks on the album, which opens with "Embracing Wild," a piece that immediately seizes the attention and serves as the ideal introduction to Meron's compositional world.

The swirling opening melody of the folk-dance-inspired "Homecoming" arrives with passion and exciting rhythmic drive. This captivating Middle Eastern folk-influenced tune gives way to a terrific solo from Menares before Meron's inventive improvisation takes command. The balance across both the arranged and improvised passages is superbly handled. Meron's Satie-esque introduction pulses gently through the opening to "Bombay," gradually building to another evocative melody. Macbride is excellent here, providing inventive backing as the piece builds to a dramatic close.

Those stirring melodies keep coming. "Cyborg" finds Meron endlessly inventive, building then fragmenting his melody over Latin rhythms, with Macbride delivering an intense solo. The supple interplay is a highlight on the exhilarating "Pendulum," while "Night Ride" reveals the strong chemistry between Meron and Menares as their lines intertwine. The aptly named "Work Ethic" drives the whole band hard, bringing the album to a rousing close.

Meron is a highly accomplished pianist, combining precision and passion in equal measure. Add to this his gift for composition and the outstanding contributions of his partners, and the result is a formidable combination, one that distills seventeen years of musical expression into seven tracks, developing, shaping and re-shaping their ideas into a compelling and richly entertaining musical tapestry.