Elisha / Rubin / Elisha - East of Jaffa [OutNowRecordings]

Ehran Elisha - drums
Harold Rubin - clarinet
Haim Elisha - piano


OutNow Recordings 2011

The 24th Krakow Jewish Festival, barely behind us*, is a perfect pretext to have a look at Israeli improvising scene. OutNow Recordings is based in Tel Aviw and managed by Yoni Kretzmer (a might sax player himself, you may find reviews of his cds "Overlook"  and the Brooklyn based 2 Bass Quartet's "Weight" on the blog) and guitarist Ido Bukelman (with a couple of fine releases on his own as well). However when the label was launched back in 2011 the premiere releases were two sessions with the drummer Ehran Elisha. I've written a while ago about his duo with Roy Campbell "Watching Cartoons with Eddie" but the trio "East of Jaffa" is well worth a look back.

Yoni Kretzmer - Overlook [OutNow Recordings]

Yoni Kretzmer - tenor saxophone
Nitai Levi - bass clarinet
Shai Ran - double bass
Haim Peskoff - drums

OutNow Recordings 2011

I've already expressed my admiration for Yoni Kretmzer's playing as I've written about his 2Bass Quartet "Weight" cd. "Overlook" is a previous release, equally worth of attention, even more so as it presents three other musicians from a vital Tel Aviv scene (fresh after the Jewish Culture Festival in Krakow I'm still impressed with how diversified and rich is Israel's musical scene).

Yoni Kretmzer 2 Bass Quartet - Weight [OutNow Recordings]

Yoni Kretzmer 2 Bass Quartet:
Yoni Kretzmer - tenor saxophone
Sean Conly - double bass
Reuben Radding - double bass
Mike Pride - drums

OutNow Recordings 2012

Any quartet with double force in the bass section is bound to be a little on the "weight" side. This is my introduction to Yoni Kretzmer and is plenty of pleasure to meet (listen to) this young tenor player and his comrades.

Ehran Elish & Roy Campbell - Watching Cartoons with Eddie

Roy Campbell - trumpet, flugelhorn, pocket trumpet, flute, percussion
Ehran Elisha - drums, bells, temple blocks, gong, roto toms, percussion


OutNow Recordings 2011

Trumpet - drums duos are quite rare and can be incredible fun and so it this record. The title of the cd refers to Eddie Blackwell and the music remins one instantly the Blackwell's duos with Don Cherry. This is true spirit of jazz - immagination, honesty, adventure. There's a natural flow, something pure and simple about the way Roy and Ehran play.