Here Be Dragons (ECM)
Oded Tzur
Released February 14, 2020
AllMusic Favorite Jazz Albums 2020
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About:
Here Be Dragons is the ECM debut of New York based, Tel Aviv born tenor saxophonist Oded Tzur, one of the most strikingly original musicians to have emerged from Israeli’s creative jazz scene in recent years, and the leader of an outstanding group. Oded Tzur has found a new and personal sound for the tenor saxophone. Inspired by his extensive studies from 2007 onward with bansuri master Hariprasad Chaurasia, he has mastered the graceful slides of Indian classical music and brought raga’s sense of pitch fluidity and microtonal shading into a jazz context. His pieces elegantly explore and unfold their melodic and atmospheric implications in a context of subtle group interaction. Structurally, each of Tzur’s compositions on Here Be Dragons sets out to develop a “miniature raga” over a moving bass, juxtaposing two musical concepts. Oded: “The dialogue between these dimensions takes us wherever it takes us.” The ragas deployed in the pieces “Here Be Dragons”, “20 Years” and “The Dream” are of Oded’s creation, while “To Hold Your Hand” uses an Indian scale called Charukesi, and operates on similar principles. He stresses, however, that “raga is, for me, a universal concept. I hear its connection to synagogue prayers, or to the blues – a marvellous creation – and to music all around the world.” Ancient and modern traditions are referenced in Oded’s work, including traditions of storytelling. “If music has the ability to tell stories,” suggested All About Jazz, “saxophonist Oded Tzur proves himself one of the jazz world’s premier storytellers.” Tzur’s concept is also broad enough to embrace some unexpected song choices, and the album concludes with a tender interpretation of “Can’t Help Falling In Love”, made famous by Elvis Presley.
Musical interaction inside the group is profound, and the quartet has already received the highest press accolades. “The interplay transcends empathy,” said DownBeat, while Japan’s CD Journal spoke of “a Coltrane Quartet for the 21st century.” Oded’s international group features fellow Israeli Nitai Hershkovits on piano, Greek bassist Petros Klampanis and US drummer Johnathan Blake. Hershkovits, who took over the piano role in Tzur’s group from Shai Maestro, first came to wider attention as a member of bassist Avishai Cohen’s groups. Bassist Petros Klampanis has been a mainstay of Oded’s band since the saxophonist relocated to New York in 2011; albums under his name include work with pianist Kristjan Randalu. Johnathan Blake, newest member of the ensemble, is from a distinguished musical family. His father, John Blake, played violin with McCoy Tyner, among many others. Johnathan has worked a broad range of contexts, playing regularly with musicians from Kenny Barron to Pharoah Sanders, and recently premiered his own trio project with Chris Potter and Linda Oh.
Track Listing:
1. Here Be Dragons (Oded Tzur) 08:29
2. To Hold Your Hand (Oded Tzur) 06:20
3. 20 Years (Oded Tzur) 09:55
4. Miniature 1 (Oded Tzur) 01:42
5. Miniature 2 (Oded Tzur) 01:44
6. Miniature 3 (Oded Tzur) 02:30
7. The Dream (Oded Tzur) 05:25
8. Can’t Help Falling In Love (George David Weiss, Hugo Peretti, Luigi Creatore) 03:33
Personnel:
Oded Tzur: tenor saxophone
Nitai Hershkovits: piano
Petros Klampanis: double bass
Johnathan Blake: drums
Recorded June 2019, Auditorio Stelio Molo RSI, Lugano, by Stefano Amerio
Produced by Manfred Eicher
Cover Photo: Jean-Guy Lathuilière
Design: Sascha Kleis
Review:
Perhaps the most distinguishing characteristic of Oded Tzur’s tenor saxophone playing is how much his phrasing resembles that of a flutist. He studied Hindustani classical music under the tutelage of Bansuri flute maestro Pandit Hariprasad Chaurasia, who had a profound influence on him. Tzur resides in New York City; he hails from Israel, and for some years was an integral part of his nation’s fertile jazz scene. Before signing to ECM, he released two leader dates for Enja’s Yellowbird: 2015’s Like a Great River and 2017’s Translator’s Note. In different ways they explored new connections between American jazz, Indian, Middle Eastern, and Israeli classical and folk traditions. Here Be Dragons was recorded in Lugano, Switzerland with a new version of Tzur’s quartet: Greek bassist Petros Klampanis remains, but drummer Ziv Ravitz has been replaced by American kit man Johnathan Blake, and pianist Shai Maestro by Nitai Hershkovits.
Tzur’s sonorous abilities in melding East and West are much more subtly displayed on Here Be Dragons. Tone, timbre, and space hold the set’s foreground in reflective, richly harmonic tunes that are melodically and texturally sumptuous. The title-track opener is introduced by a reflective melody in relatively few notes. But Tzur’s musicians are provided both time and space to explore it and offer canny individual interpretations. Tzur’s horn is at once vulnerable to the melody, yet tempered in its utterances. It sounds as if he resides between the tonal spheres inhabited by Ballads-era John Coltrane and the Ben Webster of Warm Moods. Hershkovits commits to each line with gently constructed, suggestive chord voicings. Blake’s brushes shimmer under Klampanis’ bassline that implies rather than states a pulse. While “To Hold Your Hand” commences similarly, it develops into swing while groove, tone and harmonics gel in savvy group interplay. Tzur’ break combines Indian raga and 12-bar blues. “20 Years” is articulated as a restrained ballad, but it is unconstrained in its emotional utterances. There is lush and fluid improvisation between Tzur and Klampanis. “The Dream” is offered at a brisk tempo with syncopated rhythms that touch on African, Latin, and Israeli sources in a shapeshifting lyricism. The set closes with a reading of the 1961 Elvis Presley hit, “I Can’t Help Falling in Love” rendered in nearly glacial waltz time, with gorgeous African rhythms from Blake and a sparse bassline from Klampanis that frames both Hershkovits and Tzur, who play it nearly straight. As the album whispers to a resonant conclusion, the tune’s emotional impact –due to Tzur’s yearning tone and poignant understatement — is clear. Here Be Dragons deliberately encourages its creators to join themselves to the music itself without ego or flash; that’s a rarity in modern jazz.
Thom Jurek (AllMusic)
