ZIV TAUBENFIELD/SHAY HAZAN/NIR SABAG - Bones
Leo Records CD LR 743
Ziv Taubenfeld, bass clarinet; Shay Hazan, double bass; Nir Tom Sabag, drums
Recorded at Niels’ Place, Amsterdam, Netherlands, May 2015
Here is an extraordinarily successful debut album by this Free Jazz / Improvised Music trio hailing from Israel, although these days Sabag is based in Berlin while Taubenfeld and Hazan are largely based in the Netherlands. All three were born in Israel between 1986 and 1989 and have known each other as friends for most of their lives, just starting to work together as a trio in 2013.
The eight configurations on the album are composed by Taubenfeld and his tenor on the bass clarinet is richly charismatic, while his insightful composition is alluringly intricate. Nonetheless, the music swings and such is the sense of balance achieved between collaborative and individual work as well as between the three players that the deference of each for each other is palpable. Rhythmic structures are only obliquely implied by bass and drums, yet the trio is tight and the slightest insinuation of a theme is rapidly extended across the group.
The combined effect of these three exceptional musicians, who play together and improvise with such maturity, readily salutes the unusual choice of bass clarinet as lead instrument and has resulted in the production of a very fine album of remarkable music.
Reviewed by Ken Cheetham
Leo Records CD LR 743
Ziv Taubenfeld, bass clarinet; Shay Hazan, double bass; Nir Tom Sabag, drums
Recorded at Niels’ Place, Amsterdam, Netherlands, May 2015
Here is an extraordinarily successful debut album by this Free Jazz / Improvised Music trio hailing from Israel, although these days Sabag is based in Berlin while Taubenfeld and Hazan are largely based in the Netherlands. All three were born in Israel between 1986 and 1989 and have known each other as friends for most of their lives, just starting to work together as a trio in 2013.
The eight configurations on the album are composed by Taubenfeld and his tenor on the bass clarinet is richly charismatic, while his insightful composition is alluringly intricate. Nonetheless, the music swings and such is the sense of balance achieved between collaborative and individual work as well as between the three players that the deference of each for each other is palpable. Rhythmic structures are only obliquely implied by bass and drums, yet the trio is tight and the slightest insinuation of a theme is rapidly extended across the group.
The combined effect of these three exceptional musicians, who play together and improvise with such maturity, readily salutes the unusual choice of bass clarinet as lead instrument and has resulted in the production of a very fine album of remarkable music.
Reviewed by Ken Cheetham
