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179
Album Review

Gilad Barkan: Live Sessions

Read "Live Sessions" reviewed by Michael P. Gladstone


Israel-born/Boston-based pianist/composer Gilad Barkan's efforts on his debut Modulation (New Step, 2003), and his guitarist, Izzi Rosen's Dark Beauty (New Step, 2003) were among the best of that year.Barkan's Live Sessions, a two-disc, live-in-studio recording by Boston's WGBH, differs by degree. While Barkan wrote intriguing originals on earlier releases, he was very clearly linked to players including Bill Evans, Herbie Hancock and Keith Jarrett. He left room for two jazz standards on Modulation--Evans' “Waltz for Debby" and Hancock's ...

227
Album Review

Gilad Barkan: Live Sessions

Read "Live Sessions" reviewed by Eyal Hareuveni


Live Sessions, Israeli-born Boston-based pianist Gilad Barkan's second release, features him in two different settings. The first was recorded in June 2004 with bassist Dan Greenspan and Either/Orchestra drummer Harvey Wirht--the same trio from his debut, Modulations (New Step Music, 2004)--with the second taken from a May 2006 performance with Wirht, fellow Israeli flautist Amir Milstein and master bassist John Lockwood. Both sessions were recorded for Boston's WGBH radio station and present Barkan as a mature and original composer and ...

220
Album Review

Gilad Barkan: Live Sessions

Read "Live Sessions" reviewed by Dan McClenaghan


Boston-based pianist Gilad Barkan flew onto the jazz radar screen with a couple of simultaneously-released discs: guitartist Issi Rosen's Dark Beauty (New Step Music, 2003); and his own Modulation (New Step Music, 2003). Barkan teamed with drummer Harvey Wirht, of Either/Orchestra fame on both discs, and with bassist Dan Greenspan on Modulation. The trio's sound had a bright and gregarious forward momentum on both of those CDs. Bassist Greenspan's Modulation work was always in the pocket, and I thought Barkan ...

135
Album Review

Issi Rozen: Dark Beauty

Read "Dark Beauty" reviewed by Michael P. Gladstone


After three recordings on Brownstone, guitarist Issi Rozen has released this album on his own label, and it is a lengthy and worthwhile introduction. Most of the 71 minutes are comprised of Rozen's own compositions with a lesser-known Charlie Parker tune, “Segment," and a traditional Israeli song, “Sheharhoret" (the translation of the album's title), are included. Rozen and pianist Gilad Barkan are both native Israelis transplanted to the Boston area per the Berklee School of Music, where they hooked up ...

138
Album Review

Gilad Barkan: Modulation

Read "Modulation" reviewed by Michael P. Gladstone


Consider the gazillion jazz piano trio recordings available to the unsuspecting public and the time and effort it takes to breakthrough as a major pianist/composer. My first listen to the debut recording by this Bostonian (by way of Israel) made me think very much of the Keith Jarrett Standards Trio per the intensity and interaction of the three players. So, my first impression was dazzlement by the playing and compositions of Barkan and Company.

I crept up ...

129
Album Review

Issi Rozen: Dark Beauty

Read "Dark Beauty" reviewed by Jerry D'Souza


Issi Rozen shows a compact sensibility when he bridges the music of his native Israel and jazz. The blend is seamless – and as the music shows, it can be as warm and cozy as it is jumpy and effervescent. As a guitarist, Rozen has enough texture and color in his hands to paint an interesting sketch. In this he is well served by the rest of the band, in particular Thomson Kneeland, who brings in a stirring sensibility to ...

154
Album Review

Gilad Barkan: Modulation

Read "Modulation" reviewed by Dan McClenaghan


The next time you're hunkered down in a hotel lounge and you encounter a solo pianist working through some of the requisite covers of standards and pop songs, do yourself a favor and strike up a conversation with the working musician, and drop a dollar or five in the tip jar. Odds are they're in a get-the-rent-paid mode, and their talent has far more depth and breadth than is readily apparent from the expected, ususally bland fare of the lounge ...

152
Album Review

Issi Rozen: Dark Beauty

Read "Dark Beauty" reviewed by Dan McClenaghan


On an initial blind spin of Dark Beauty, the leadership slot isn't readily apparent – to the leader's credit. It could be any one of the quartet members, so balanced are the contributions, with piano and guitar owning a seemingly equal share of the solo time.Israeli-born guitarist Issi Rozen leads the quartet on Dark Beauty, which is a loose English translation of the opening tune's title, “Sheharhoret," a perfect starting point for the music that follows: wistful, minor ...


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