Review:

on 2011-09-06 Emil_Rajuan Said:

Kobi Arad Band's 'Sketches of Imaginary Landscapes - A New Kind of Jazz

NYC's jazz scene is replete with talented Israeli musicians; yet the exceptionally gifted musician Kobi Arad, seems to stand out not only among the Israeli croud, but also in larger scale. Kobi Arad is the first to earn a Doctorate degree in Third Stream from the Historic New England Conservatory of Music. Together with his group 'Kobi Arad Band,' Arad is innovating and building a new structural framework in the field of jazz and contemporary classical.

In their recently launched CD 'Sketches of Imaginary Landscapes,' 'Kobi Arad Band' are slashing apart stylistic boundaries and formal conventions. The tracks of this CD are all a new statement with fresh sounds which really stand on the innovative side.

Notable for it's freedom from stylistic bounds is the CD's third track, 'Interia.' This track uses harpsichord as the main instrumental outline, blending with traditional bass and drums - which impressively find themselves confidently within the highly complex rhythmical and compositional sound-scape laid out by band leader Arad. It's quite difficult to pin-down this piece of music for any style of music. Yet the aphoristic form, which characterizes most of the Cd's tracks shows a deep reflection on Anton Webern's Passacagalia. Similar to it in texture is the fifth track, 'Muon's Dance,' which is featuring a thrusting and soulful ep solo; the harmonic fabric and weaving of this track - structured by electronic instruments woven with band members Tucker Yaro (bass) and Ray McNaught (drums) stretches the bounds of jazz, but is further rhythmic than most 'classical' music. The opening track of the CD, 'Up the Ladder,' contains fusion-like thunder-like hits in the ep-licks, bass line and drums. The Holdsworth-like solo adds thrusting dimensions to the already energetic opening.

The overall CD's musical content moves from outer - to inner - and again into outer. The overarching forms are a reminiscence of the Corea - Maupin "Is" sessions, only that the synthesizers and electronic textures introduced here, provide a further colorful and exploratory sound-scape as compared to the traditional choice of instrumentation (which consists of rhodes - piano) by Chick Corea. Altogether this CD presents a new direction in music, and should be acknowledged as grandiose effort to further art and music into frontiers unseen before.



Rating: 10/10