France’s Jazzmania writes, “ a pianist to follow.”
REVIEW: Andrew McCormack
Jazz Halo’s Jean-Pierre Goffin sings the pianist’s praises.
REVIEW: Roy Mor 'After The Real Thing'
Jazz-Halo’s Jean-Pierre Goffin writes, “A more than promising first album.”
From the Israeli jazz scene the names of Avishai Cohen (double bass player and trumpeter), Anat Cohen, Ziv Ravitz, Yonathan Avishai are among the best known among us. There is also a new generation of talented instrumentalists to discover.
With a reputation already well established in Israel, pianist Roy Mor is releasing an album reflecting cultural influences linked to the jazz tradition and its origins. The pianist-composer was not initially intended for a musical career since after studying philosophy and engineering, a career opened up to him at Microsoft. Roy however preferred to express himself in his passion for music by settling in New York, in the same institution as Ariel Bart. He works there with Anat Cohen, Esperanza Spalding, Ben Wendel or Dave Douglas. Back in his native country, he participated in a trio with trumpeter Avishaï Cohen.
With "After The Real Thing", he released his first album recorded in Brooklyn. At the heart of a majority of personal compositions, we find two jazz standards which suggest that we are dealing with a musician who respects tradition: “Speal Low” by Kurt Weil and “The Nearness of You” by Hoagy Carmichael recorded in public. The pianist is however also very influenced by the traditional music of his region because alongside a trio with a moving line-up, we discover the oudist Amos Hoffmanwhich beautifully colors three compositions: "The Echo Song", an Israeli folk song made famous by singer Arik Lavi, is introduced by the oudist in a traditional spirit before the pianist treats the theme in a seductive waltz. “After The Real Thing”, the eponymous track, is for its part well in the jazz bop tradition with a very effective rhythm composed of Myles Sloniker and Itay Morchi. “Jerusalem Mezcla” (inspired by a traditional dish) starts again with oriental accents with once again a superb solo by Amos Hoffman. "Nikanor" presents the only blower of the album, the buglist Davy Lazar particularly in evidence on this medium tempo to which he brings warmth and emotion.
One of the successes of the album is to create a real coherence between standards, personal compositions and themes of Israeli culture.
A more than promising first album.
Musicians:
Roy Mor - piano
Amos Hoffman - oud
Davy Lazar - bugle
Myles Sloniker - double bass
Itay Morchi - drums