Record Reviews

TAL ARDITI ~ PORTRAIT NOT ON LABEL ~ ISRAEL ~ Jazz Recorded: 2018 Released: 2018 This is the debut album by Israeli (resident in Berlin) guitarist / composer Tal ArditiFind albums by this artist, recorded in a trio setting with Danish bassist Andreas LangFind albums by this artist and German drummer Tobias BackhausFind albums by this artist. The album was recorded live at the A-Trane Club in Berlin and presents eight original compositions, all by Arditi. The music is quite unique and although based on solid melodic themes, it incorporates many different stylistic elements, ranging from Rock to contemporary Classical with a solid pitch of Fusion in between, but consistently manages to avoid a clearly defined classification, which is for the best in this case. Rhythmically the music often utilizes quirky tempo changes and polyrhythmic intricacies, which require attentive listening in order to follow the rapid developments. As a result this is definitely not an easy going Fusion album, which you can whistle to as you along, but a complex musical statement, perhaps overheated at times, but certainly awe inspiring. Luckily Arditi manages to avoid all the Fusion mannerisms, which are the plague of the Jazz guitar idiom. Arditi is obviously a brilliant guitarist, playing neck-breaking arpeggios with the speed of light, but definitely not in order to impress anybody, but simply because his music requires this kind of expression. He is equally proficient with playing full chords and his performance, which does not utilize any special electronic sound altering devices, sounds almost "acoustic", at least conceptually. The obvious virtuosity is dazzling, but not flashy, which is extremely rare among guitar players. The rhythm section, which comprises of two very busy musicians from the young Berlin Jazz scene, is wonderfully supportive and Arditi is definitely very lucky to find such fine musicians, who are able to follow his devilish schemes. There is little soloing by the rhythm section, but since the music is complex enough to be a challenge to everybody on board the soloing is not really that important, although wonderfully done, when present. Overall this is a very promising debut album, which establishes Arditi as a talent to follow and watch closely. Hopefully future recording will be slightly more relaxed and less feverish, but all in all, the introductory goal was achieved here in full. Definitely worth investigating!

Updated: 27/11/2018Posted: 27/11/2018

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