ALMOG SHARVIT - Get Up And Cry
www.unitrecords.com
Almog Sharvit - Upright & Electric Bass; Adam O'Farrill -Trumpet; Brandon Seabrook-Guitar & Banjo;
Micha Gilad -Piano, Keys & Synths; Lukas König- Drums
Additional Credits: Ambrose Getz-Vocals on#5; David Leon-Flutes on#3; Idan Morim-Acoustic Guitar on #1
Bass player Almog Sharvit has released his debut album as leader of original compositions. Get Up Or Cry is on Swiss label Unit Records. Founded by guitarist Harald Haerter, the label has been documenting the best of jazz, modern classical and electronic music for over three decades.
Sharvit is a 28-year-old conservatory-trained musician, born and raised in Israel, now based in Brooklyn, New York. In New York, he has established himself as a creative force; his jazz trio Kadawa has received accolades from the New York Times, Indie Current and Vancouver Sun, among others. Sharvit has also toured internationally with various acts across 12 countries and performed at storied venues, including Jazz at Lincoln Center, the Detroit Jazz Festival, the Blue Note, Jerusalem Jazz Festival, and many more. Get Up Or Cry was recorded in a single day at Wonderpark Studios in Brooklyn. Post-production, Sharvit applied experimental techniques usually found in pop and electronic music to the songs. The record features filter sweeps, heavy distortion and compression, and creative automation and panning that he says gleefully "will knock the dust off your stereo."
'Dear Hunter' is a joyful explosion of sound, with a strong presence of banjo, trumpet and a toe-tapping rhythm purveying the track, which lifts the heart. Part old fashioned jazz and part modernistic approach, the track is a delight in every way. The joyous bass solo, followed by unfiltered and rapid drums, puts a smile on your face and the whole track buzzes with energy.
' Roller Disco' is a different animal altogether, with electronic beats infused over rocky bass lines and trumpet, which takes off at times in improvised journeys across the top. The synthesiser solo is mesmeric as it trips up and down the octaves, whilst the contrast between trumpet and electronica creates a dimorphic interpretation of the music.
' Mx. Bean' is atmospheric, the bowed bass introducing gorgeous sonorous lines of melancholy, aided by breathy trumpet and free-flowing interjections from the rest of the ensemble. Eventually, everything melds into a harmonious, soaring ensemble number, led by the melody of the trumpet and a wonderful, swinging piano interlude, over which flute breaks and soars, giving way again to the trumpet, which rises and flies. The ending is calm, serene and quite beautiful.
' We'll Get Back to You' starts with various phone messages offering different ways of refusing employment and develops into a slightly wayward melody, settling into a theme of sorts punctuated by off-kilter trumpet, guitar and electronica, which sound together like imitation dial tones. Not easy on the ears, this track is disjointed and disharmonic yet somehow compelling in its annoyance. It ends with a final ' we'll get back to you' spoken by a phone operator and a 'phone engaged tone.
'Get Up Or Cry ' is based on a beautiful poem by Vladimir Nabokov, sung by Ambrose Getz, her delicately smooth tones contrasting with the free style of the trumpet, which makes the final section of emotive vocals over a strong ensemble all the more effective.
'Open Wound' is sad, forlorn and opens with trumpet singing out a melody before the ensemble creates a gentle background, over which percussion creates intricate arrhythmic rhythms. The piece takes off in a thematic, pictorial journey of sound, which builds to a crescendo, pausing briefly for a set of rising chords before the trumpet sings across the top, and the ensemble again creates a solid theme. The percussion is relentless in its pursuit of off-kilter rhythms, which interrupt and disrupt before the piano settles the matter in its final chord section.
There is, throughout this album, a sense of experimentation, placing themes against off-beats and one melodic line against another. Mostly, it works, and the album is enjoyable.
It is a startlingly imaginative record that will appeal to jazz purists and neophytes, a crossover record that stuns any casual listener. It contains genre-pushing creativity, textural innovation, and a striking balance between form and freedom with a blurring of electronic music, psychedelic rock, bluegrass, 20th-century classical music, and jazz into dizzyingly beautiful, wholly unique songs.
Sharvit comments, "I intended to create an album that you can turn to when you feel joy and sorrow at the same time. I wanted to make an album that is beautiful in an odd way, a space where humour interacts with moving, complex, and crazy songs. They express how we all feel sometimes–overwhelmed with information, short on focus, caffeinated as hell, but at the same time having moments of joy, intimacy, sadness, and freedom. " Mission accomplished, I would say.
Reviewed by Sammy Stein
www.unitrecords.com
Almog Sharvit - Upright & Electric Bass; Adam O'Farrill -Trumpet; Brandon Seabrook-Guitar & Banjo;
Micha Gilad -Piano, Keys & Synths; Lukas König- Drums
Additional Credits: Ambrose Getz-Vocals on#5; David Leon-Flutes on#3; Idan Morim-Acoustic Guitar on #1
Bass player Almog Sharvit has released his debut album as leader of original compositions. Get Up Or Cry is on Swiss label Unit Records. Founded by guitarist Harald Haerter, the label has been documenting the best of jazz, modern classical and electronic music for over three decades.
Sharvit is a 28-year-old conservatory-trained musician, born and raised in Israel, now based in Brooklyn, New York. In New York, he has established himself as a creative force; his jazz trio Kadawa has received accolades from the New York Times, Indie Current and Vancouver Sun, among others. Sharvit has also toured internationally with various acts across 12 countries and performed at storied venues, including Jazz at Lincoln Center, the Detroit Jazz Festival, the Blue Note, Jerusalem Jazz Festival, and many more. Get Up Or Cry was recorded in a single day at Wonderpark Studios in Brooklyn. Post-production, Sharvit applied experimental techniques usually found in pop and electronic music to the songs. The record features filter sweeps, heavy distortion and compression, and creative automation and panning that he says gleefully "will knock the dust off your stereo."
'Dear Hunter' is a joyful explosion of sound, with a strong presence of banjo, trumpet and a toe-tapping rhythm purveying the track, which lifts the heart. Part old fashioned jazz and part modernistic approach, the track is a delight in every way. The joyous bass solo, followed by unfiltered and rapid drums, puts a smile on your face and the whole track buzzes with energy.
' Roller Disco' is a different animal altogether, with electronic beats infused over rocky bass lines and trumpet, which takes off at times in improvised journeys across the top. The synthesiser solo is mesmeric as it trips up and down the octaves, whilst the contrast between trumpet and electronica creates a dimorphic interpretation of the music.
' Mx. Bean' is atmospheric, the bowed bass introducing gorgeous sonorous lines of melancholy, aided by breathy trumpet and free-flowing interjections from the rest of the ensemble. Eventually, everything melds into a harmonious, soaring ensemble number, led by the melody of the trumpet and a wonderful, swinging piano interlude, over which flute breaks and soars, giving way again to the trumpet, which rises and flies. The ending is calm, serene and quite beautiful.
' We'll Get Back to You' starts with various phone messages offering different ways of refusing employment and develops into a slightly wayward melody, settling into a theme of sorts punctuated by off-kilter trumpet, guitar and electronica, which sound together like imitation dial tones. Not easy on the ears, this track is disjointed and disharmonic yet somehow compelling in its annoyance. It ends with a final ' we'll get back to you' spoken by a phone operator and a 'phone engaged tone.
'Get Up Or Cry ' is based on a beautiful poem by Vladimir Nabokov, sung by Ambrose Getz, her delicately smooth tones contrasting with the free style of the trumpet, which makes the final section of emotive vocals over a strong ensemble all the more effective.
'Open Wound' is sad, forlorn and opens with trumpet singing out a melody before the ensemble creates a gentle background, over which percussion creates intricate arrhythmic rhythms. The piece takes off in a thematic, pictorial journey of sound, which builds to a crescendo, pausing briefly for a set of rising chords before the trumpet sings across the top, and the ensemble again creates a solid theme. The percussion is relentless in its pursuit of off-kilter rhythms, which interrupt and disrupt before the piano settles the matter in its final chord section.
There is, throughout this album, a sense of experimentation, placing themes against off-beats and one melodic line against another. Mostly, it works, and the album is enjoyable.
It is a startlingly imaginative record that will appeal to jazz purists and neophytes, a crossover record that stuns any casual listener. It contains genre-pushing creativity, textural innovation, and a striking balance between form and freedom with a blurring of electronic music, psychedelic rock, bluegrass, 20th-century classical music, and jazz into dizzyingly beautiful, wholly unique songs.
Sharvit comments, "I intended to create an album that you can turn to when you feel joy and sorrow at the same time. I wanted to make an album that is beautiful in an odd way, a space where humour interacts with moving, complex, and crazy songs. They express how we all feel sometimes–overwhelmed with information, short on focus, caffeinated as hell, but at the same time having moments of joy, intimacy, sadness, and freedom. " Mission accomplished, I would say.
Reviewed by Sammy Stein
