Mastodawn

Ended Tuesday and welcomed the blue skies of a wonderful Winter Wednesday after a walk with My Prophet by Oded Tzur, released on ECM in 2024.

Tyran Grillo wrote for ECM Reviews:

"Taking these reflections to heart empowers us to hear the alpha in every omega, as embodied in “Epilogue,” which happens to initiate the set. Tzur’s uniquely vocal tone elicits a brief and resounding call to gather the remnants of our speech as an offering to something so deeply communicative that we can only resort to the fluid intensities of “Child You.” The second of six intimate tracks casts his metaphysical virtuosity as an inevitability rather than a choice. He finds a graceful interplay with Klampanis, whose inner feelings correlate one by one. Furthermore, his entanglement with Hershkovits provides ample room for our ears to breathe, building tone upon tone as a gradual monument of stones."

https://ecmreviews.com/2025/05/25/oded-tzur-my-prophet-ecm-2821/

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a_vWcj0Yfu4&list=OLAK5uy_nrE00PyHnqAeYap0qna-52JLyXhpQKwDY&index=2

#OdedTzur #ECM #ECMReviews #Jazz #Music #TenorSax

Andi Chorley Jul 6, 2025

Ended Saturday and started Sunday with Like a Great River
by Oded Tzur, released on Enja in 2015.

"In 2012, Oded led a rehearsal in Brooklyn with Shai Maestro, Petros Klampanis and Ziv Ravitz. The immediate connection between the four musicians led to the creation of the Oded Tzur Quartet, an ensemble that explores relationships between the jazz setting and Indian music’s melodic architecture. The Quartet has performed at many venues throughout New York City and in 2014 recorded its debut album: Like a Great River, which will be released by Enja Records in April 2015.
Oded Tzur is a New York City based saxophonist, composer and bandleader. His work draws on Indian classical music and Jazz, and explores fundamental connections between different musical traditions..." - Bandcamp

https://odedtzur.bandcamp.com/album/like-a-great-river

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UbyzVoaG9A4&list=OLAK5uy_nL-IUs1LeEHps9SAdgWY3_9CCdaNNcewQ

#odedtzur #enja #microtonality #jazz #2015inmusic #tenorsax

Andi Chorley Jun 6, 2025

Ended Thursday and started Friday with Here Be Dragons by Oded Tzur, released on ECM in 2020.

Tyran Grillo wrote on ECM Reviews:

"Born in Tel Aviv and based in New York, tenor saxophonist Oded Tzur could not have found a more suitable home than ECM for his gentle brand of jazz. His uniquely tonal approach to the instrument, channeled through a rare melodic purity, make for a powerful combination. Heavily schooled in Indian classical music, he treats each tune as a raga in and of itself, and uses likeminded structures in distinctly jazz-oriented parallels to unleash the inner life of every motif. Ensuring that nothing goes to waste are his trusted crew of pianist Nitai Hershkovits, bassist Petros Klampanis, and drummer Johnathan Blake.

After a tender yet angular introduction, “To Hold Your Hand” ushers in a dimly lit performance that relies more on the contour of sound than on the sound of contour.."

https://ecmreviews.com/2020/06/02/oded-tzur-here-be-dragons-ecm-2676/

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sAYqF0hBrOE&list=OLAK5uy_lMM2PKNaDr87oznxlOmdQOCi7KMgc44I4

#odedtzur #ecm #ecmreviews #jazz

Andi Chorley May 24, 2025

Ended the week and started the weekend with Isabela by Oded Tzur released in 2022 on ECM Records.

Tyran Grillo wrote for ECM Reviews:

"...From the threads of “Invocation,” the quartet sews the binding of its thematic pages in “Noam,” which speaks through melodies that roll off the soul’s tongue. In “The Lion Turtle,” Blake taps the edges of his kit like someone testing the shell of an egg for vulnerabilities (and finding none). Klampanis’s solo feels like an extension of Hershkovits’s (and vice versa). Suggestions of alternate realities fade as quickly as they appear. Tzur’s unraveling is profundity incarnate, gracing the inner circle of every chord change as the tongue might move a morsel around the mouth for proper chewing. The result is more than a conversation; it’s an interactive prayer..."

https://ecmreviews.com/2022/06/30/oded-tzur-isabela-ecm-2739/

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uI-8tcyMnGk&list=PLZ-z7_gxM585BI5SH1uDOhsRjTIK3VZbh&index=1

#odedtzur #ecmreviews #ecmrecords #jazz #ecm #ManfredEicher