Home » Jazz Articles » Album Review » Omri Mor / Yosef-Gutman Levitt: Melodies of Light

8

Omri Mor / Yosef-Gutman Levitt: Melodies of Light

By

View read count
Omri Mor / Yosef-Gutman Levitt: Melodies of Light
It is quite rare in a culture and society driven by autocrats, hits, likes, blogs and podcasts, that recordings as ethereal, yet born of the ageless earth, as Melodies of Light come around to release us from the daily ugly.

Spontaneous music of this hypnotic, mysterious beauty and elusive grace give us pause to reflect on where we are, individually and collectively, and to seek a better way. It haunts. It comes at the listener from some timeless shifting of the sands and the seas yet sounds as new, as vital, as now. It is a wonderful feat of human magic.

After recording South African bassist Yosef-Gutman Levitt's Soul Song (Soul Song, 2023) with guitarist Lionel Loueke, (whom mentor Herbie Hancock refers to as a "musical painter"), Melodies of Light was born in the extra studio time as a whispery duo improvisation between Israeli born pianist and composer Omri Mor (Avishai Cohen) and drummer Ofri Nehemya, (Rickie Lee Jones, Shai Maestro, Gilad Hekselman). From there the four men embarked on an intimate musical sojourn of soulful import and wide influence.

Built on thirteen movements of various lengths and guises, all of the world's music can be heard celebrating itself on Melodies of Light. It begins as it should with "Movement One Opening," a pristine hymn of meditation and purpose. "Movement Two Hamotzi" takes shape from its predecessors whispers and the drive for connection in a fractured world takes hold. "Movement Three The Dance" is just that: a rousing quartet percolation wherein each member brings in his rooted past and the creative present.

Each track (a cold, almost unkind word to use given the vulnerability and strength infused into each performance) follows the one before it with an organic simplicity that needs be heard (and listened to again and again) then described. The pacing is perfect as the quiet "Movement Four Hananya" serves as prelude to the vividly paced "Movement Five Jonah's Garden" (Nehemya's percussive sensibilites rise to the fore) as does "Movement Six Before the Rain" delivers us to "Movement Seven Timbuktu" and so on. Four bonus tracks are included, though truth be told they feel as one with Melodies of Light as Melodies of Light is to the soul.

Track Listing

Movement One Opening; Movement Two Hamotzi; Movement Three The Dance; Movement Four Hananya; Movement Five Jonah's Garden; Movement Six Before the Rain; Movement Seven Timbuktu; Movement Eight The Way Home; Movement Nine Sunshine; Movement Ten Out of the Walls; Movement Eleven For Karim; Movement Twelve Lament; Movement Thirteen Let Me Draw Water; Movement Fourteen Bonus Track; Movement Fifteen Bonus Track; Movement Sixteen Bonus Track; Movement Seventeen Bonus Track.

Personnel

Album information

Title: Melodies of Light | Year Released: 2023 | Record Label: Soul Song Records

Tags

Comments


PREVIOUS / NEXT




Support All About Jazz

Get the Jazz Near You newsletter All About Jazz has been a pillar of jazz since 1995, championing it as an art form and, more importantly, supporting the musicians who make it. Our enduring commitment has made "AAJ" one of the most culturally important websites of its kind, read by hundreds of thousands of fans, musicians and industry figures every month.

Go Ad Free!

To maintain our platform while developing new means to foster jazz discovery and connectivity, we need your help. You can become a sustaining member for as little as $20 and in return, we'll immediately hide those pesky ads plus provide access to future articles for a full year. This winning combination vastly improves your AAJ experience and allow us to vigorously build on the pioneering work we first started in 1995. So enjoy an ad-free AAJ experience and help us remain a positive beacon for jazz by making a donation today.

More

Tramonto
John Taylor
Ki
Natsuki Tamura / Satoko Fujii
Duality Pt: 02
Dom Franks' Strayhorn
The Sound of Raspberry
Tatsuya Yoshida / Martín Escalante

Popular

Old Home/New Home
The Brian Martin Big Band
My Ideal
Sam Dillon
Ecliptic
Shifa شفاء - Rachel Musson, Pat Thomas, Mark Sanders
Lado B Brazilian Project 2
Catina DeLuna & Otmaro Ruíz

Get more of a good thing!

Our weekly newsletter highlights our top stories, our special offers, and upcoming jazz events near you.

Install All About Jazz

iOS Instructions:

To install this app, follow these steps:

All About Jazz would like to send you notifications

Notifications include timely alerts to content of interest, such as articles, reviews, new features, and more. These can be configured in Settings.