One of the few cultures that has tried to mix with jazz, yet hasn’t released the “perfect” concept album has got to be Middle Eastern music. It’s a logical comingling, with both styles having a sense of swing (ever hear of “Take Five”?) which easily can turn into exciting and even frenzied improvisation. Palistine-born guitarist Michel Sajrawy teams up with fellow Israelites Amiram Granot-Maali Klar/sax, Samir Makhoul/oud, Valeri Lipets-b, and Wisam Arram-Stas Zilberman/perc-dr for a successful mix of modern guitar laden jazz with traditional Arabic melodies and harmonies.
Klar’s soprano sax takes you to serpentine swirls on “Tojann” and “Batumi” while Sjarway’s guitar gan get a nice dark sound akin to Mike Stern on “Hal Asmar Ellon” and “Ya Lel.” Mystical stummings on 1 Count Before 40” (probably referring to the number of times Christ was whipped) create a contempoative moode, while the title track , melds the best of mid east and west like olive oil and red pepper dashed on a smoothly whipped up hummous. A hard combo to beat, mixing jazz’s heat with the Mediterranean warmth.
Dasam Records