What do I mean by asking if guitarist Gilad Hekselman is the next Pat Metheny? There’s only one Pat, and guitarist Kurt Rosenwinkel is also one of the most important forward thinking guitarists today. But Hekselman has that special something to his sound and style that makes him seem like the next leader in six stringed ideas.
Wanna talk about ideas? This album has him in a mix and match of mostly duo settings with either Eric Harland or Ziv Ravitz on drums as Hekselman plays a variety of guitars, keyboards, basses, percussion and even whistles while he works, as on the exotic “Long Way From Home”. His tone is relaxed and patient with a settings of strings on the ebullient “Far Star” with percussionist Alon Benjamini, bassist Oren Hardy and Nathan Schram/vi-va, while funky and bluesy on the electric “The Headrocker”. His guitar lines do a delicate dance on the tensile “Fast Moving Century” and on acoustic, the fingers are gentle for the pretty “ I Didn’t Know”. Each song is a distinct color of the mosaic of an album, creating a rich overall picture. Don’t miss this important guitarist if he comes around.