When the music is good, that’s all you really need, yet the Jerusalem Jazz Sessions in the Sergei Courtyard offer so much more. Within the stone courtyard trees lift their branches up to the night, surrounded by beauty and silence, you can let the music enter your body, heart and mind.
The session last Wednesday opened with Steve Peskoff on guitar and Jonathan Kretzmer on tenor saxophone, playing together in quiet intimacy: a conversation between old friends, with easy space between the sounds, like the depth of black sky between the trees.
One conversation merged effortlessly into another as Assif Tsahar walked up to the stage, with a gentle murmur of his sax. Joining him were Shmil Frenkel on double bass and Shai Zelman on drums. Moving into a new rhythm on the kind of ride so smooth that you don’t even notice you are moving until all at once you look around to see that you are somewhere else. Night recedes into the distance, heat and light rise up from the sax, the bass vibrates in your veins and the drums have worked their way into your mind.
Filling the month of August with an eclectic range of sound from orchestral to African, the series will take a break during the month of September, so don’t miss the last summer performance taking place next week on August 26th. Chorolé: The Israeli Choro Ensemble will play traditional Brazilian style with jazz, ethnic and Israeli influences. Opening for the ensemble will be Roi Chen on classical guitar. The series will re-open in grand style on October 7th with Yitzhak Yedid in a solo performance of his work “Suite Tachanun” an almost completely improvised suite with influences of Indian, Arab, French impressionist and jazz music. Jonathan Kretzmer and Shmil Frenkel will also be back in October, joined by Tsahar’s co-founder of the Levontin 7 club in Tel Aviv- Daniel Sarid, Shai Ran, Roi Hermon and Haim Peskoff as the Jonathan Kretzmer Sextet.
Artistic directors Uriel Kon and Adin Weiner have put together a diverse program and, with the generous support of the Jerusalem Foundation and the Jerusalem Municipality, with the very affordable ticket price – only 35 NIS – made it easy to experience all the different styles they present. Midnight East will be certainly be returning to Jerusalem for more music and details on upcoming performances.
The Brazilian Session Wednesday, August 26 at 20:30
Sergei Courtyard 13 Eleni Hamalka Street, Jerusalem
Tickets and info: 02-6252357 jerusalem.sessions@gmail.com
Image credit: Elizur Reuveni
