The Jerusalem Jazz Festival is clearly here to stay. Next week (June 19-20) sees the event mark its first decade of vibrant, fun, eclectic derring do, With the continuing support of the Jerusalem Foundation, perennial artistic director and internationally renowned trumpeter Avishai Cohen has spread his practiced curating net across broad tracts of sonic and stylistic fare.
Jazz fans, as well as music lovers who get their buzz in other areas of musical endeavor, will no doubt flock to the Israel Museum, where the majority of the gigs are due to take place, with an all-nighter planned on the second evening – through to the wee hours and beyond – at the Yellow Submarine.
The entertainment value of many of the festival shows is enhanced by the choice of location, as the musical offerings mingle with the artworks on the walls around the performance space and other artifacts the patrons encounter as they navigate their way to their chosen slot in the program.
Running down the roster, the DADADA: Contemporary Improvisation – Whisperers from the Collective Unconscious concert caught my eye as one of the more adventurous outings in the lineup, with an eight-piece ensemble led by conductor Doron Kaufman doing its thing four times over the two days (7:25 p.m. and 9:05 p.m. on both days).
The instrumentalists are all graduates of the Contemporary Improvisation program at the Jerusalem Academy of Music, which augurs well for a refreshing experience for artists and audience alike.
The fact that the show takes place in the Dada and Surrealism gallery should help matters along the freewheeling path, too.
CULTURE CONSUMERS looking for a taste of something beyond the mainstream pale should also dig the Castle in Time Orchestra’s brace of appearances at the festival (June 19 and 20, both 8:15 p.m.).
The troupe, under the direction of multidisciplinary artist Matan Daskal, will feed off the aesthetics and vibes of the Non-Western Cultures and Rhythm of Life galleries in an intriguing two-parter.
Bassist Or Sinai gets the ball rolling solo with her own composition, called “Below Zero,” at the Non-Western Cultures area, before joining the rest of the gang in the other exhibition hall for a rendition of “In C” by octogenarian American composer Terry Riley.
But if you’re looking to feed into a sense of refreshing joie de vivre and going with the joyous flow, the KENS trio should be just the ticket.
The threesome is described as an Israeli-Japanese act which, in fact, is something of a misnomer. Then again, there is some – at least – geographical truth to that. Guitarist Kai Livermore was born in Japan and made aliyah seven years ago at the age of 17. However, his parents are Israeli, so presumably there wasn’t too much of a cultural chasm to navigate when he settled here.
He will be joined by drummer Noam Arbel and bass guitarist Eli Orr as they roll out a high-energy, multi-layered playlist culled from their debut album, Contact 123, which came out in August 2022, and their sophomore effort, which is due out a couple of months from now.
Orr says they are a tight-knit bunch and do much of their behind-the-scenes creating together. Their paths initially crossed at the Rimon Jazz Institute, in Ramat Hasharon, and they immediately clicked, musically and personally. They put out their first single, “Downgraded,” in February 2021, recorded between COVID-19 lockdowns, and soon after that released their version of Nirvana rock classic “Smells Like Teen Spirit.” They were up and running.
“We got our first gig at a place called Hotam Hacafe in Ramat Hasharon,” Orr recalls. “We decided we wanted to perform for audiences, so we just started, just like that,” she laughs. Sounds simple enough.
They hit the ground running and kept up a lively pace on the compositional side, too.
“We all had this burning passion to write new material,” says the bassist. “We studied jazz and played standards as part of our studies, but we always wanted to write our own material. Almost all the numbers we performed at gigs were things we’d written together.”
The personal and creative chemistry soon bore fruit, as they brought their musical baggage and influences to the collective plate. They clearly have a penchant for contemporary pop and rock, and take that under their improvisational wing.
Even so, Orr says there are variegated parts to the venture. “We each come from different worlds. Noam comes from a world of electronic music, and drum and bass. Kai is drawn to movie music, and I come more from funk and groove.” That’s quite a mix as the multifarious strands ebb and flow through the group’s work.
The 22-year-old got her start in jazz from acclaimed bass player Gilad Abro, who has more than dabbled in Orr’s genres of preference. Mind you, it wasn’t exactly premeditated. Again, it was basically a matter of Orr following her instincts and taking a leap of faith. “I heard that Gilad was a good teacher,” she simply states.
That also suited Orr’s predilection for the higher energy climes of jazz, and a desire to get the most out of the art form and run with that in all sorts of directions.
“I really enjoyed studying jazz and taking inspiration from it,” she notes. “It gave me a lot for writing music and for musical communication and adding excitement to the gigs.”
THE ISRAEL Museum audience on June 20 (7:30 p.m.) should get that, particularly as the KENS’ repertoire – the band’s name stems from an acronym of the members’ given names, with an “s” thrown in for good measure – and wattage output will be significantly bolstered by an appearance by internationally celebrated guest saxophonist Daniel Zamir.
The reedman is well and truly on board for the synergic ride
“One of the numbers on our new record was created together with him,” Orr remarks, adding that we won’t have to wait too long to gain an impression of how the confluence went. “It is coming out, as a single, in July. The gig at the festival is a sort of unveiling of the single. It is called ‘Hive Mind.’”
Jazz numbers, particularly the purely instrumental affairs that don’t have a verbal base to guide the listener to the thematic center, often get titles that appear, at the very least, quizzical. So, when Orr tells the name of the KENS-Zamir creation, I wonder whether there is a bee buzz effect in there. Seems that wasn’t too far off the mark.
“It is difficult to describe in words,” she says. “It opens with a guitar loop improvisational part. In the production process we added a stereo effect, so it sounds like its eddying around your head.”
The audience should have little trouble going with the KENS flow. There is something infectious about their mien and the way they spin their rhythmic and melodic yarn that has you tapping your fingers and toes, and probably doing a little head banging while you’re at it.
For Orr, it is all about attending to the core and letting the rest pan out at will.
“We care a lot about the tune,” she says, although noting it is not all easy listening. “There are moments in the music that are not accessible to everyone’s ears. They can be intense. But the melody is sacrosanct for us. For us, it is important to feel the music and not just pick it apart. We don’t want it to be too intellectual.”
That does not mean the KENS gang is intent on dumbing down to appeal to all tastes. The first single due out from the new album, “Unsold,” is a multi-layered production with some top professionals recruited.
“We had members of the Israel Philharmonic Orchestra string section on the recording,” Orr says with just a smidgen of pride. Doubtless, the end result makes for a suitably sumptuous listening experience.
KENS clearly takes in wide tracts of cultural baggage, and the ensuing textures and rhythms, into its sonic output. With Livermore in the lineup, that, naturally, spreads eastward, too.
“The new album is called Atarayo,” Orr explains. “In Japanese, that means a beautiful long night you don’t want to end.”
That’s a fetching prospect and concept, and also intimates that Orr et al. have moved on along their creative continuum. “The first album was a jazz trio-based thing – very orchestrated and heavily produced. The second one is different.”
ELSEWHERE ON the wide-ranging Israel Museum program, there are enticing slots with Andalusian-leaning pianist Darya Mosenzon and her trio; a sextet led by jazz pianist Stav Goldberg; and an outdoor sound installation courtesy of folks from the Artistic Research program of the Musrara, the Naggar Multidisciplinary School of Art and Society, Jerusalem. The extracurricular areas of the lineup include the “Six” dance, movement, and voice performance, with rap and hip-hop making an emphatic appearance with Josef-E-Shine and The Invisible Dancing Rabbi Experience.
As always, the artistic director gets a chance to strut his stuff when he teams up with choreographer, performer, and dramaturge Sharon Zuckerman Weiser. As the program notes have it, they “explore human mechanisms and their manifestation in the performance stance onstage, on-screen, or in life.”
Jerusalem-based irrepressible street band Marsh Dondurma is also on display at the museum, when it joins forces with vocalist Anat Moshkovski in a tribute to veteran singer-songwriter Yehudit Ravitz.
And, even in these troubled times, there are a couple of very welcome acts from foreign climes in the lineup, including a Slovakian quintet fronted by trumpeter Oskar Torok.■
For tickets and more information: www.jerusalemjazzfestival.org.il
