Tal Gamlieli

Boston Phoenix review by Jon Garelick:
Sometimes it's all a matter of making complex things simple. Or revealing the complex depths beneath simple surfaces. Bassist Tal Gamlieli's quartet at the Lily Pad last night built a deeply satisfying set through simple means: clear verse-chorus song structures, beautiful melodies, bedrock grooves, imaginative improvisations. The band began their single late set with an atmospheric opening of Gamlieli's bowed bass, Eyran Katsenelenbogen's loose piano arpeggios, and drummer Jorge Pérez-Albela's rattling bell. But before long, they established a strong groove based on the Bedouin debka dance rhythm, Katsenelenbogen introduced the supple melody, and saxophonist Marco Pignataro joined in on soprano sax. They were off and running, and Katsenelenbogen unfurled some silky extended lines before Pérez-Albela moved to the cojón, the little "Middle Eastern" minor mode theme returned, and the band took the tune out.

Every tune offered surprises, dramatic dynamics, most of them written directly into the piece by Gamlieli. His "Hirhur" (which he translated from the Hebrew as "to reflect") was a medium-uptempo tune that lifted Pignataro's improvisation with its multiple key modulations — a cleanly shaped tune with, once again, a strong groove, and one fresh turn after another. "Hidden Path" alternated a waltz rhythm (and another fetching melody) with little catching vamp sections. For Pignataro's slow tango "Homesick," he turned to tenor, filling the room with a rich tone that opened to a gentle, broad vibrato on the out chorus. You could have tango'd, or even done a slow foxtrot if you were tango impaired.

There was familiarity in all this music, but it didn't sound like any other band. Fellow Israeli expats Gamlieli and Katsenelenbogen made a particularly good team. In the final number, dedicated to the Israeli pop pianist/composer Yoni Rechter, they played a duet in which they essentially finished each other's sentences. And Gamlieli's blend of Middle Eastern rhythms and folk melodies with American jazz was both personal and affecting. Just as personal were his firmly articulated solos — impressive examples of the bassist's art of making rhythmic invention indistinguishable from melodic invention.


Other reviews:
"The performers on this collection represent some of the finest jazz performers in the world of jazz. Tal Gamlieli is a superb bassist and his solo work is outstanding". - Lee Prosser at jazzreview.com from review of Michel Reis CD Point of No Return


"If you think that a bass solo can’t be plaintive or deliver an impact, let bassist Tal Gamlieli’s cautious, pause-laden one on the sad, plaintive, simply titled Folk Song hit you – it’s what he doesn’t say that resonates most intensely". - Alan Young at Lucid Culture from review of Michel Reis CD Point of No Return:

"Bassist Tal Gamlieli is another amazing musician coming from Israel". - Wilbert Sostre at All about Jazz

Dear friends,

Please come and see us play every 2nd and 4th Thursdays
at the Lilypad Jazz Club in Cambridge

A special thanks to Gill Aharon for believing in my
music and giving me this great opportunity.