Ohad Talmor - Back to the Land - COMPACT DISCS [CD]

Saxophonist and composer Ohad Talmor follows up his albumLong Forms with the Ohad Talmor Newsreel Sextet (Intakt CD341) - a trio recording with his closest musical friends in Brooklyn guitarist Miles Okazaki and drummer Dan Weiss. Ohad Talmor is the very definition of a cosmopolitan artist, holdingthree passports - American, Swiss and Israeli - while being basedin the polyglot borough of Brooklyn, New York. Although mentoredby the late, great altoist Lee Konitz, Talmor has musical obsessionsthat range far and wide. From iconic tenor saxophonists likeSonny Rollins and Wayne Shorter to such disparate Europeancomposers as Bruckner and Ligeti to theintricacies of Hindustaniclassical music. Talmor has taken this album's title, Mise en place, from a Frenchphrase often used to refer to the preparation and organization ofall ingredients and implements ahead of cooking although, morepertinently, it's also a colloquial French term for rhythmic accuracyin jazz. A fluent, precise Inchtime feelInch is a prime trait of his trio withOkazaki and Weiss. The trio plays as one, lithe and muscular. InchDespite the technical demands of these pieces,Inch Talmor says,Inchour goal is to eschew stock licks, to really listen, to really improvise- to always be in the moment with the music. Inch

2013 album from the veteran singer/songwriter. Recorded by Grammy winning producer Stewart Lerman (Loudon Wainwright, Lucy Roche Wainwright, Jules Shear, Boardwalk Empire) the songs on Trooper's 12th record cover an array of characters most of whom are determined to find a better world than the one they've been living in. Musicians include some of the best players in the Americana genre including Larry Campbell (Bob Dylan, Levon Helm) on everything from steel guitar to Irish bazouki and Kenneth Blevins (John Hiatt, Don Williams, Waterboys) on drums and percussion. InchGreg Trooper has got to be on our list of our finest contemporary songwriters.Inch- Billy Bragg.

Yotam Rosenbaum is joined on this unique recording by Grammy Award Winner - Dave Samuels on vibraphone, Grammy Award Winner - Mads Tolling on violin, Vadim Neselovskyi (Gary Burton) on piano and Mike Oien on bass. Yotam Rosenbaum is an award-winning drummer and composer. The son of a clarinet player and the youngest of four brothers, all musicians themselves, Yotam seemed destined for a life in music. By the age of six, he was taking piano lessons and singing in a professional choir. Before long, he was studying trumpet and drums as well. He continued on to study at the Rubin Academy of Music High School in Jerusalem and The Rimon School of Music in Tel-Aviv before moving to the U.S, where he attended the world-renowned Berklee College of Music in Boston, graduating magna cum laude. Yotam's compositional style stems from his extensive exposure to both jazz and classical music. His creative influences span the stylistic spectrum, from Mozart, Mahler, Stravinsky and Bartok to Miles Davis, Thelonious Monk, Astor Piazzolla and Frank Zappa, manifesting themselves in his work as a harmonious blend of the traditional and contemporary. Strong melodies and innovative rhythmic ideas characterize all his pieces, which include not only orchestral compositions, but also chamber music, solo pieces, jazz tunes and contemporary songs. Yotam Rosenbaum's compositions have been performed and recorded by some of the world's finest musicians and ensembles, including Grammy-award winner Dave Samuels and the Kandinsky Trio, who premiered Yotam's InchThree Short StoriesInch for marimba and piano, (a three-movement piece that crosses over between classical and jazz, incorporating improvisation and inventive rhythmic ideas), as well as the Esterhazy String Quartet, that premiered his piece InchDancin' Music.Inch Yotam has also performed his music at the Kennedy Center in Washington, DC as part