Home » Jazz Articles » Album Review » Jamie Saft: Sovlanut

Jamie Saft: Sovlanut

By Mark Corroto
September 1, 2000
View read count

Keyboardist Jamie Saft’s inclusion in Tzadik records Radical Jewish Culture series is more radical than Jewish. The title Sovlanut means tolerance. From Saft’s multi-cultured Brooklyn home tolerance is the order of the day. The exploration of his Jewish-ness is through the filters of his neighborhood, which happens to be drum-n-bass and dub. Saft is the Jewish version of Linton Kwesi Johnson.

Saft a keyboardist with a preference for a vintage groove has worked with the likes of John Zorn, Cuong Vu, Jerry Granelli, and Bobby Previte. His band includes clarinetist Chris Speed (Dave Douglas, Tim Berne’s Bloodcount, Human Feel, and Granelli), bassist Jonathan Maron (Groove Collective, Liminal), and drummer Jim Black (Bloodcount, Dave Douglas, Human Feel, Ben Monder).

The disc opens and closes with echo-filled dub tracks. Bass heavy, they collage Jewish, Arab, and a distinctly Jamaican sound. Saft playing multiple instruments creates a spaceways backdrop for the 13-minute title track, a drum-n-bass mindscape. “Mach/Hey” and “Tefachim” take a slow groove approach to this headtrip, Saft punching out some Herbie Hancock Headhunter electric piano. “Midwood Cowboy” turns the noisiest performance here noisily sampled and aggressively shrilled. Sovlanut is about the groove, the sample, and a diversified music vision through a dub-filter.

Track List:Kasha Dub; Sovlanut; Mach/Hey; Midwood Cowboy; Tefachim; Fresser Dub.

Personnel

Jamie Saft

piano

Jamie Saft

Album information

Title: Sovlanut | Year Released: 2000 | Record Label: Tzadik

PREVIOUS / NEXT

Charles Lloyd: Crossing the Waters W...
< Previous

Passages
Next >

Support All About Jazz

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.