MATTAN KLEIN QUARTET - The Long Run
Ubuntu Music UBU0099
Mattan Klein - flute; Toki Stern - keyboards; Yoni Ben Ari - bass; Joca Perpignan - percussion; Nitzan Bar - guitar
Jazz flute has rather a chequered reputation, often deployed as a double by saxophonists to add colour while reserving their more serious statements for their reeds, and famously parodied by Will Ferrell’s alter ego Ron Burgundy. The most famous practitioners are probably Herbie Mann and Hubert Laws and while both are acknowledged masters neither is at the forefront of critical esteem: the lingering suspicion remains that the jazz flute is a lightweight contender, more suited to mood music than serious artistic statements. Recent work by Elena Pinderhughes has done much to challenge this stereotype, and the flute also has a long and honourable tradition in Latin jazz in its many manifestations from Cuba to Brasil. Mattan Klein’s seventh album draws much of its inspiration from the latter tradition, including a respectful rendition of Hermeto Pascoal’s “O Farol Que Nos Guia” while ‘Jokes” is an original written in the Brasilian Chorinho style. The multi-award winning Klein is a superbly accomplished musician and his well-balanced world-class band match his effortless virtuosity and lightness of touch across a joyously uplifting set flavoured with tasteful electric bass, fender rhodes and polite percussion. “Azymotiv/Hakaza” shows that Klein can also be an adventurous composer incorporating modernistic devices. Anyone looking for wild musical abandon should look elsewhere, but aficionados of high-quality gentle fusion will find much to delight them.
Reviewed by Eddie Myer
Ubuntu Music UBU0099
Mattan Klein - flute; Toki Stern - keyboards; Yoni Ben Ari - bass; Joca Perpignan - percussion; Nitzan Bar - guitar
Jazz flute has rather a chequered reputation, often deployed as a double by saxophonists to add colour while reserving their more serious statements for their reeds, and famously parodied by Will Ferrell’s alter ego Ron Burgundy. The most famous practitioners are probably Herbie Mann and Hubert Laws and while both are acknowledged masters neither is at the forefront of critical esteem: the lingering suspicion remains that the jazz flute is a lightweight contender, more suited to mood music than serious artistic statements. Recent work by Elena Pinderhughes has done much to challenge this stereotype, and the flute also has a long and honourable tradition in Latin jazz in its many manifestations from Cuba to Brasil. Mattan Klein’s seventh album draws much of its inspiration from the latter tradition, including a respectful rendition of Hermeto Pascoal’s “O Farol Que Nos Guia” while ‘Jokes” is an original written in the Brasilian Chorinho style. The multi-award winning Klein is a superbly accomplished musician and his well-balanced world-class band match his effortless virtuosity and lightness of touch across a joyously uplifting set flavoured with tasteful electric bass, fender rhodes and polite percussion. “Azymotiv/Hakaza” shows that Klein can also be an adventurous composer incorporating modernistic devices. Anyone looking for wild musical abandon should look elsewhere, but aficionados of high-quality gentle fusion will find much to delight them.
Reviewed by Eddie Myer
