GILAD ATZMON & THE ORIENT HOUSE ENSEMBLE
(Enja Tiptoe TIP 888839-2)
(for an outstanding album)
JULY 2000
Every now and again something comes along which puts other efforts in similar fields into perspective. The vitality and character of Atzmon's own playing, as well as the freshness of his group's approach, reveals the vast majority of jazz-world-ethnic musical mixes as mere pastiche, lacking any real originality, or any over-riding musical personality on the part of the pasticheurs themselves, who borrow their personalities from the music they throw together.I'm not claiming Atzmon to be new messiah, the future of jazz or anything else. He's just got the talent and know-how to create a hybrid of his own which doesn't merely present undigested lumps of someone else's stuff. Atzmon's band is a quartet -reeds, piano, bass, drums-like many others, but a superior level of imagination allows this quartet \ to take on different models and repertoire and come to a stimulation fusion of material and players. Maybe it's insight. Whatever it is, this disc is distinctive and should be heard. It's not all ethnic and wild eyes- the musical sources include such remote places as New-York and environs, with Messrs Davis and Shorter contributing a tune apiece-but it's all worth hearing
Keith Shadwick
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The Observer -Review 18 June 2000
GILAD ATZMON & THE ORIENT HOUSE ENSEMBLE (Tiptoe TIP 888839-2)
This marvelous Israeli musician, who has been enlivening jazz in Britain for
a year, Surpasses himself. Playing Soprano saxophone and ethnic instruments,
he creates his own cross-cultural idiom.
Dave Gelly
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METRO - Monday June 26 2000
GILAD ATZMON & THE ORIENT HOUSE ENSEMBLE
Enja
Talented Israeli_born Saxophonist Gilad Atzmon has linked up with fellow Israeli drummer Asaf Sirkis, Pianist Frank Harrison and bass player Oli Hayhurst to create an album swirling with varied influences.
From the the echoes of Jewish klezmer in Miron dance to the piercingly beautiful melodies of Atzmon'z own Balladi. Latino, Turkish, Israeli and the odd Miels Davis and Wayne Shorter.
Composition could have been a hotchpotch: instead Atzmon sends his soprano sax or clarinet soaring over complex rhythms from all points of the glob with a poetry that never forfeits control.
unusual and beautiful
Nina Caplan
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Spacious House of Atzmon
The packed life of Gilad Atzmon, the UK-resident Israeli sax and clarinet virtuoso,
takes in record-producing, self-distribu-tion, hardcore bebop, a new world-music
group, and playing in the late Ian Durys Blockheads. Atzmons Orient House Ensemble
is the focus of his new CD.
I still like playing bebop,the speedy and emphatic Gilad Atzmon is anxious to
make clear. And Ill still go on playing it
wherever anyone wants me to for you know, twenty-five quid. I grew up on bebop,
because when I was growing up in Israel bebop was like America, and of course
it still is. Maybe it doesnt attract young people so much, but it has a very
devoted and knowledge-able audience just the same, which I love. But when Atzmon
started working with a drummer from his homeland, Asaf Sirkis, he recovered
an interest in playing the music of the Middle East, North Africa and Eastern
Europe that had been in the back of his mind for years. When the adaptable young
Cambridge musicians Frank Harrison (piano) and Oli Hayhurst (bass) joined the
roup, Atzmon was ready to branch out from the fiery bop-based music he has played
since his arrival in Britain five years ago. The Orient House Ensemble is one
of the few UK bands to have recorded for the ENJA label in recent years, and
its music is a rich and pas-sionate blend of many world influences, but with
the players jazz-based improvisational instincts always strong in it.
Im not an educated jazz player, Atzmon confesses with a laugh.I went to Berklee, two hours, said bye-bye. My real pro-fession is as a producer, which I still do for money, and I think it made me good at getting colour from a group of layers. Ive gained confidence to make my own music. I wont stop worrying, thats the person I am, but I have a good feeling about this band now.
The Orient House Ensemble CD is now out on ENJA.
A HOT AND SPICY STORM
Cardiff Post 05.04.01
Blowing up a hot and spicy storm to beat down the persistent rain and bad news was clarinettist/saxophonist Gilad Atzmon and the Orient House Ensemble on Level 3 of St David's Hall last Tuesday evening.
Gilad is not only a master musician that the world must hear more of, but also a great showman and humorist with a penchant for punchy political satire. Not that any of his wacky chatter marred the music in the slightest.
From the first note to the last, the quartet was rivetingly on form. Their opener was Ellington's In A Sentimental Mood, which began with some clarinettical clezma class from Gilad.
From here on we were whisked through a whistle-stop tour of world-musical dimensions. We were taken to Romania, Egypt, the US and Algeria. The suite dedicated to the 20th Century was a pot pourri of standards wrapped in a grim, drum-heavy version of It Ain't Necessarily So.
Wain Shorter's Footprints was a crazy helter-skelter trip through Morocco.
Their version of Love For Sale done Egyptian style was stunning. And yet there
is a serious side to this mercurial Israeli and his merry men. Gilad
dedicated a composition of his, Beladi, to the Palestinian struggle.
The quartet is playing four nights at London's Pizza Express before embarking on a short European tour. But let's have them back here soon. They were a heartening tonic for this punter at least.
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THE JAZZ REVIEW
The South Wales Echo 05.04.01
Some people say that live jazz in Cardiff and other British cities needs to be more challenging if it is to attract a new audience. This performance by Atzmon and his trio was certainly the most musically and intellectually challenging of this series of Jazz on the Level.
There was a large audience to hear this charismatic musician who has a distinctive sound. There are so many influences on this music, and Atzmon's interpretations are so eclectic that to call it jazz is to be too restrictive.
Atzmon plays his saxophones and clarinet with controlled aggression, each phrase and passage the product of deep thought. A big man, he has a formidable stage presence, fronting Asaf Sirkis on drums, Oli Hayhurst on double bass and the excellent Frank Harrison on piano.
Raised as a secular Israeli Jew, there was something of a political undertone to some of the music. This was explicitly so in the last number of the evening, which Atzmon composed in sympathy with Palestinians, 'looking to find their way home.'
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October 2000 ,Issue 36
BreconJazz 2000
..........,in contrast to Gilad Atzmon's Orient House Ensemble, Whose late-night concert was a triumph. Virtuosic on soprano and clarinet, Atzmon summoned up pathos and passion, paced by the thoughtful young pianist Frank Harrison and the ever-smiling Asaf Sirkis on drums and bandir.......
Peter Vacher
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February 5, 2000
More than Just Bebop
Gilad Atzmon's Orient House Ensemble, Bonington Theatre
By Alan Joyce
Surprises all round at the Bonington on Thursday when Israeli-born saxophonist
Gilad Atzmon, well- known as a fiery exponent of bebop announced he was "searching
for his roots" and introduced original compositions reflecting his Middle-
Eastern background. The "new music" was well received by the Nottingham
Jazzhouse audience-those who demand he play be-bop being catered later on.
Backing Gilad were a completely different rhythm team from his last visit in
November 1988. Fellow countryman and percussionist Asaf Sirkis provided vital
assistance on the exotic Eastern melodies with pianist Frank Harrison and Oli
Hayhurst (double bass).
The first set was devoted to what Gilad described as "Turkish Standards"
he himself playing a "Turkish" clarinet- which was in fact a simple-system
metal clarinet. Gilad in one of his hilarious announcements explained he had
got a plumber in Norwich to "knock it together." It produced a hollow
mystic sound and Gilad used it on the very first number, Pardon.
A conventional B-Flat clarinet and soprano sax were featured in the other compositions.
On both these instrument Gilad displayed a pure tone, the Soprano was rich and
full, the clarinet reverberating and resonate, showing his characteristic fire
on extended solos. The music was exhilarating and original, capped by Gilad's
boundless energy and enthusiasm. Frank Harrison was wonderful pianist, delicately
articulate, weaving and probing. The solid and accurate bass playing of Oli
Hayhurst provided a rich bottom line.
Wayne Shorter's Footprints was given a Eastern treatment. Searing soprano was
tempered by a relaxed and effortless contribution from Frank Harrison. following
the interval the Gilad Atzmon we all know and love obliged with scintillating
jazz standards and bebop classics. His own tune Winnie The Pooh showcased his
biting alto-sax and rapid fire technique. On Ellington's In A sentimental mood,
Gilad's phrasing left wide gaps while he sought new heights to improvisation.
My One And Only Love was another great ballad with Gilad at his very best. weaving
and wailing while strolling the width of the stage. Harrison's cool and poignant
piano again the perfect foil. For an encore Gilad reverted to his exotic Eastern
strains playing a haunting clarinet-sheer genius!