Nothing heats up a cold winter evening as well as the warm notes of jazz music, and as thousands of visitor can attest to, last year’s Jazz Season in Eilat did just this. For its second consecutive year, the Red Sea Jazz Festival is illuminating Israel’s southernmost city for a weekend abounding in music, class and culture.
The festival’s artistic director Dubi Lenz is a well-known radio persona, editor, writer and international world music expert. As head of the IDF radio station for 15 years and popular presenter of the station ‘Hakol Zorem’ (Everything Flows), dedicated to world music and jazz, Lenz is one of Israel’s most honorable musical veterans, and was awarded the French Order of Arts and Letters in 2011. Lenz has taken his musical experience from all over the world to create an unparalleled event combining styles and influences from the most prominent international and local jazz communities. Ensembles from Israel and overseas will unite on Eilat’s stage to create three days of musical ambiance: artists include the extraordinarily innovative Bad Plus, a trio that amalgamates an avante-garde genre of jazz, pop and rock, Bela Fleck and the Flecktones, an instrumental American group fusing bluegrass, jazz an funk music, the Young Sun Nag Quartet with Korean vocalist Youn Sun Nah, Uri Caine Ensemble with a homage to Mozart, African influenced Kora Jazz Band featuring Andy Narell and the Norwegian folk jazz ensemble Karl Seglem Quintet.
Each evening visitors are invited to enjoy the musical milieu with free public performances and the Summer Festival tradition of open jam sessions. Concerts will take place in the Hangar Port theatre.
Artists:
The Bad Plus – On Sacred Ground: Stravisnky’s Rite of Spring. Concert date: Friday, 20/1/12 at 23:00
The Bad Plus have shattered musical conventions and for the past ten years have been working on concocting the perfect combination of musical idiosyncrasy combining jazz, rock, pop and classical music. Their success at last year’s festival prompted them to return with an adaptation of Russian composer Igor Stravinsky’s ‘Rite of Spring’ (1882 – 1971). Stravinsky’s composition is one of the most prominent of the 20th century, written to accompany a ballet performance depicting a pagan ritual sacrifice of the virgin god of spring. The ensemble creates new complexities of harmony, expression and even brutal force and is renowned for its deconstruction and revitalization of classical masterpieces. This piece will be performed with an accompanying visual art presentation designed by architect Cristina Guadalupe and filmmaker Noah Hutton. The Bad Plus revel in the breaking down of musical genres – open-mindedness is the key to enjoying their tremendous beats. The threesome consists of Reid Anderson on Bass, Ethan Iverson on piano and David King on the drums.
Bela Fleck and the Flecktones. Concert date: Saturday, 21/1/12 at 20:00
Over two decades ago the musical innovator, banjoist and composer Bela Fleck assembled his Flecktones and has since packed five Grammies under his belt. The ensemble’s original members reunited two years ago under the pretext of nostalgia and have since launched a musical and artistic quest for original material. Fleck, 53, has obtained a superstar status as the world’s best banjo player and describes their music as “the new musical hybrid”. The Flecktones combine classical, bluegrass, jazz, African beats, blues, electronic and East European dance into their musical smorgasbord and are impossible to resist getting up and dancing like crazy. These guys are four musical masterminds in one band: Howard Levy is considered “the man with two brains” for his uncanny ability to play simultaneously on the piano and harmonica and Roy Wooten created an electronic guitar with a digital interface that activates drum tones (drumitar). With experiments including gospel music and Bulgarian dance rhythms the Flecktones know how to test boundaries and use previously untested musical novelties to create something undeniably fresh. Bela Fleck is of course on banjo, Victor Wooten on electric bass, Howard Levy on piano and harmonica and Roy (“Futurman”) Wooten on the drumitar.
Youn Sun Nah Quartet. Concert date: Thursday, 19/1/12 at 20:30
When she was 26, Korean musician Youn Sun Nah decided to leave her hometown and reestablish herself in France. She was discovered in the Parisian jazz thanks to her uniquely lucid voice and has since established herself in the international scene of music and jazz. Youn Sun, now 42, grew up to a musical family: her father was a conductor and her mother a classical singer. She simultaneously developed her career in Europe and Asia and her albums were accredited Best Albums of the Year by her homeland Korea, France and Germany. Youn Sun has followed in the footsteps of the likes of Ella Fitzgerald, Dee Dee Bridgewater and Stacey Kent, and was awarded the “French Order of Arts and Letters” by the French government.
Youn Sun Nah will now be gracing our stage with her unique voice, so mesmerizing in its effortlessness that it’s been regarded as an instrument of its own. Her mastery of the subtle nuances of tone has led her to the creation of seven compelling jazz albums and innumerable fans, eager for their next chance to be wooed breathless by her voice. She will be accompanied by Ulf Wakenius on the guitar, Vincent Peirani on the accordion and Simon Tailleu on double bass.
Uri Caine Ensemble: Round About Mozart. Concert date: Thursday, 19/1/12 at 22:45
American composer and musician Uri Caine has been asked to produce an evening of homage to Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, who will be celebrating his 250th birthday with us posthumously. The evening will be in honor of the composer’s universal musical genius and his timeless contribution to all genres of music in the world. Caine, 55, began playing piano at the age of 7 and the now veteran has 22 albums and is continuing to compose, perform and produce music. His music is an ambiguous fusion of jazz and classical yet he also does not conform to the boundaries of genre and is a seasoned performer at the world’s most distinguished jazz festivals. In the past he has honored on stage composers such as Mahler, Wagner, Beethoven, Bach and Shuman; Mozart’s birthday gift will include some of the Austrian’s most revered pieces: symphonies No. 40 and 41, the Clarinet Quartet, the Sinfonio Concertante, Turkish March, and excerpts from the operas “Don Giovanni” and “The Magic Flute”. Caine, himself on the piano, is accompanied by Ben Perowsky on the drums, Chris Speed on clarinet, Nicolas Geramus on violin, Ralph Alessi on trumpet and John Hebert on the bass.
Kora Jazz Band featuring Andy Narell. Concert date: Saturday, 21/1/12 at 18:00
Eight years ago the three Kora Jazz Band members set out for a multicultural musical expedition that combined fundamentally different musical instruments to create an innovative, unfamiliar sound: piano, African kora together with West African percussion merge to produce a sound that transcends cultural boundaries. The Kora is an instrument originating from West Africa that resembles a harp within a wooden sound box. Its sound resembles the tone of a deep harp, though if traditionally played it bears resemblance to blues guitar. Abdoulaye Diabate, the band’s pianist and composer, successfully combines three musical realms: classical, jazz, and traditional Africa. Their musical arrangements are the perfect portrayal of creative and cultural freedom accentuated by the jazz genre.
Joining them in concert is Andy Narell, American steelpan player and one of the contributors to their latest albums. Steelpan, a unique instrument in itself, is shaped like a concaved basin and produces tone ranges resembling a cross between an organ and a Vibraphone. Originally from Trinidad, the instrument was discovered in WWII when leftover oil drums were discarded at seaports. The original Band consists of Abdoulaye Diabeta on piano, Yakhouba Sissokho on the kora and Moussa Sissokho on percussion.
Karl Seglem Quintet. Concert date: Friday, 20/1/12 at 19:00
Karl Seglem’s style originates from traditional Norwegian folk music, and by combining his talents in composition, poetry and musical ability on both the tenor saxophone and the goat horn – known in the Jewish tradition as the Shofar – he produces musical worlds that emphasize both composition and improvisation. By blending jazz with the archaic strength of folk music he develops an eclectic musical style influenced also by African, reggae and Pakistani tunes. Seglem has always aspired to express through sound what cannot be done with words; much of the artistry of his latest album emerged from his escape to a desert island and his utilization of the silence to create a musical communication. Seglem’s quintet consists also of Hakon Hogemo Hardanger on the fiddle, Kare Opheim on drums, Lars Jakob Rudjord on keyboards and Helge Harstad on Bass.
Omer Klein featuring Rona Kenan. Concert date: Friday, 20/1/12 at 21:00
At the young age of 29, Omer Klein has already emerged as an internationally acclaimed jazz pianist and composer. Since his global debut at 23 Klein has already released four acclaimed albums in the United States and Europe, has played in numerous international venues and has collaborated with artists such as Lee Kunitz, Jonathan Blake, Yehidit Ravitz and Eviatar Banai. He recently composed a song for the forthcoming album of one of Israel’s most prestigious musicians, Erik Einstein, who described him as “a tremendous jazz pianist”. Klein’s permanent trio includes Chagai Cohen Milo on bass and Ziv Ravitz on the drums, and the jazz magazine “Down Beat” has chosen their recently released album “Rockets on the Balcony” as the Editor’s monthly choice.
Collaboration with Rona Kenan began at a similar jazz festival in 2009 and their poignant music will be reiterated at this year’s event. Their compositions will be original and unforeseen; anticipate a rare and exhilarating performance.
Third World Love featuring Avi Lebovich. Concert date: 21/12/12 at 22:30
A decade ago, three Israelis and an American met in Barcelona and, after a smashingly successful concert, became Third World Love. The concert gave birth to an album, which in turn gave birth to a breakthrough of musical ingenuity in the jazz world. Their style combines jazz, blues and funk interspersed with influences from central African, Latin American, Maghreb and Yemen. The four musicians – who each maintain a thriving music career on their own – have an almost telepathic bond deriving from a genuine passion for music and the unusual artistic freedom they stimulate in one another. After four successful albums and numerous landmark concerts around the world the band has managed to build a diverse crowd of followers who wait anxiously for their next chance to be overwhelmed by their beats.
In a collaboration especially organized for this festival, Third World Love will be featuring the trombonist and Orchestra leader, Avi Lebovich. He will join original members in performance, who include Avishai Cohen on the trumpet, Yonatan Avishai on piano, Omer Avital on Bass and Daniel Friedman on drums and various percussion.
Tidbit: In the past couple decades Israel has established itself as one of the jazz’s most exalted hosts, glorifying the universality of a genre that is not bound by definition or barriers. Each artist in this festival is exceptionally unique and exemplifies the perpetual invention of new methods of communicating to the world through music. The Winter Red Sea Jazz festival is a dialogue between Israel and the world through the sensitivity, poignancy and intoxication of music that expresses the love and passion of a world often too preoccupied with negativity.
Performances will take place at the Eilat Port, inside a renovated hangar. Information on tickets and acommodations may be found (in English) on the festival website.
