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Yoni Kretzmer's New Dilemma: Yoni Kretzmer's New Dilemma
by Eyal Hareuveni
Unlike many young jazz players in Israel, tenor saxophonist Kretzmer chose to broaden his musical education in France, instead of the United States. This appears to have exposed him to a much more varied scene, and a more open and flexible definition of jazz genres.
His musical world is rooted in the fusion-meets-progressive rock of his former quartet, The Rats, along with the Aylerian free jazz he explores with Sun Ra Arkestra alumni alto saxophonist Avshalom Ben Shlomo, ...
read moreThe New Albert Beger Quartet: Big Mother
by Eyal Hareuveni
The cover of Israeli saxophonist Albert Beger's Big Mother captures your attention immediately. Yinon Tubi's photos of an anonymous, depressing rubbish dump frame Beger's love cry on behalf of all mothers, a conceptual six-part suite that calls us to action before it's too late.
The new work challenges Beger, who usually opts for shorter compositions that emphasize his abilities as an improviser and his close interplay with his partners. Most noteworthy, these have included bassist William Parker and ...
read moreHamid Drake / Albert Beger / William Parker: Evolving Silence, Vol. 2
by Eyal Hareuveni
Evolving Silence, Vol. 2 follows a year after Vol. 1, which documented the first ever meeting in the studio of Israeli saxophonist Albert Beger and the great rhythm section of William Parker and Hamid Drake. This disc was recorded a day after an unforgettable performance by trumpeter Roy Campbell's Pyramid Trio on which Beger was featured as a guest player, on the same day as the first volume.
Like its predecessor, this album features four different perspectives: three original compositions ...
read moreHamid Drake / Albert Beger / William Parker: Evolving Silence, Vol. 1
by Glenn Astarita
Israeli tenor saxophonist Albert Beger uses a no-nonsense blood-and-guts attack during most of this turbocharged, free-form modern jazz exposition. Beger goes toe-to-toe with two famed jazz artists, bassist William Parker and drummer Hamid Drake, whose fluid, driving rhythms set the stage for this action-packed session. On Naked Truth, Drake's sweeping press rolls behind Parker's briskly flowing bass lines serve as a heated foundation for Beger's jaunts into the stratosphere. Rather judiciously, they feed off each other's ideas on this collection ...
read moreHamid Drake/Albert Beger/William Parker: Evolving Silence Vol. 1
by Jeff Stockton
The Wyman and Watts of jazz, bassist William Parker and percussionist Hamid Drake, traveled to Israel to perform with Roy Campbell in the Pyramid Trio in February, 2005. The next day, after having sat in with the band, Israeli saxophonist Albert Beger recorded his own trio session with Parker and Drake in the studio. The resulting Evolving Silence Vol. 1 is just a taste: four tracks across 42 minutes. But each composition stands individually to represent a different aspect of ...
read moreAlbert Beger 5: Listening
by Eyal Hareuveni
We don't determine music, the music determines us; we only follow it to the end of our life: then it goes on without us." --Steve Lacy
Israeli free jazz saxophonist Albert Beger, 45, has dedicated his fifth disc, Listening , to the late great saxophonist Steve Lacy. But unlike the Lacy quote, on Listening Beger delays his surrender to the music and opts for a more accessible musical statement. This disc, the first outing with a ...
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