Though unmentioned in the liner notes or anywhere else in the CD package, the core of the repertoire on this album from tenor saxophonist Ohad Talmor comes from his transcriptions of a 1998 Ornette Coleman rehearsal tape with his long-time colleagues Charlie Haden and Billy Higgins, along with fellow altoist Lee Konitz, as they prepared for a single performance later that year at the Umbria Jazz Festival. While the release contains some well-known themes from Coleman and sometime frontline partner Dewey Redman, the bulk of these 24 pieces are variations Talmor created on the tunes on the tape.

Working primarily with bassist Chris Tordini and drummer Eric McPherson, the saxophonist also enlisted a variety of guests bringing different perspectives and approaches to some of the Coleman pieces, including “Quartet Variations on Tune 8," a glorious polyphonic trio of Talmor and trumpeters Russ Johnson and Shane Endsley, all improvising simultaneously, prodded only by McPherson. The first disc sticks with acoustic arrangements, the trio handling seven of 10 pieces on its own, the agile rhythm section giving Talmor fleet support as he works his way through previously unheard nuggets and vintage gems like "Kathlyn Grey." The second disc is expansive yet introspective, with electronics and effects entering the fold. These fragments ultimately serve as the lens through which Talmor reveals the current diapason of his practice more than Ornette arcana.

Back to the Land: Seeds; Trio Variations on Tune 11; Accords-Quintet Variations on Tune 12; Kathlyn Grey; Dewey's Tune; Trio Variations on Tune 6; Quartet Variations on Tune 8; Trio Variations (fast) on Tune 7; New York; Mushi Mushi; Accords for Two; Trio Variations on Tune 1; Accords for Five; Trio Variations on Tune 2; Electric Sunglasses; Back to the Land; Quartet Variations on Tune 4-Peace Warriors; Four Sextet Variations on Tune 4; Accords for Four, Astonishment; Quartet Variations on Tune 3; A Good Question; Quintet Variations on Tune 10. (81:10)

Personnel: Ohad Talmor, tenor saxophone, MiniMoog, Prophet 10, programming; Chris Tordini, basses; Eric McPherson, drums; Joel Ross, vibraphone; David Virelles, Leo Genovese, piano; Shane Endsley, Russ Johnson, Adam O'Farrill, trumpet; Denis Lee, bass clarinet; Grégoire Maret, harmonica.

Ordering info: intaktrec.ch

Though unmentioned in the liner notes or anywhere else in the CD package, the core of the repertoire on this album from tenor saxophonist Ohad Talmor comes from his transcriptions of a 1998 Ornette Coleman rehearsal tape with his long-time colleagues Charlie Haden and Billy Higgins, along with fellow altoist Lee Konitz, as they prepared for a single performance later that year at the Umbria Jazz Festival. While the release contains some well-known themes from Coleman and sometime frontline partner Dewey Redman, the bulk of these 24 pieces are variations Talmor created on the tunes on the tape.

Audio Review Magazine

Der Tenorsaxophonist Ohad Talmor überrascht uns immer wieder. Auf seinem jüngsten Doppelalbum geht der Weltbürger, der 1970 als Israeli in Lyon geboren wurde, in Genf aufwuchs und seit 1995 in New York lebt, von bisher unveröffentlichten Kompositionen Or-nette Colemans aus. Sie fanden sich auf drei Bändern mit Pro-beaufnahmen von Coleman mit Lee Konitz. Die beiden Giganten spielten die Stücke dann im Sommer 1998 auf Tournee in Europa; danach gerieten sie in Vergessenheit. Coleman starb 2015, Konitz 2020. Talmor hat die Kompositionen nun transkribiert und um eigene Variationen und Stücke erweitert; hinzu kommen noch «Mushi Mushi>>> und <>> oder <> heißen sie nun etwa. Die Kernformation für das ehrgeizige Projekt besteht aus Talmor selbst, Chris Tordini am Bass und Eric McPherson am Schlagzeug; für einige Variationen wird sie zum Quartett, Quintett, Sextett und Septett erweitert. Leo Genovese und David Virelles am Klavier, Shane Endsley, Adam O'Farrill und Russ Johnson an der Trompete, Joel Ross am Vibrafon und Grégoire Maret an der Mund-harmonika sind die Gäste. Die Musik ist ****, kristallin, transparent; in ihrer Verbindung von Leichtigkeit und Komplexität erinnert sie oft an den reifen Lee Konitz, mit dem Omar Talmod selbst noch in verschie-denen Formationen zusammengearbeitet hat, aber auch an das präzise Vokabular Wayne Shorters. Die 24 teils sehr kurzen Kompositionen wurden im Frühjahr 2023 in Brooklyn eingespielt, und zwar im Jazzklub Seeds, den Ohad Talmor selbst betreibt. <>> ist eine Hommage, die auf zwei CD achtzig Minuten Musik voller Überraschungen bietet.

Der Genfer Saxophonist und Composer Ohad Talmor lebt und arbeitet seit vielen Jahren in Brooklyn, New York. Die neue CD "Back to the Land" ist sein Dialog mit der Musik von Ornette Coleman. Ausgang dafür war ein Probe-Tape eines Lee-Konitz/Ornette-Coleman-Projekts. Ohad Talmor transkribierte die Kompositionen und ad-aptierte sie für Trio bis Septett Settings. Die Doppel-CD ist ergänzt mit zwei Dewey-Redman- und mehreren Eigenkompositionen. Es sind mehr-heitlich kurze Gespräche, die Ohad mit seinen Heroen Ornette und Dewey hält. Honesty, Humility and Courage sind dabei die Themen, die ihn faszinieren und die auch seinen eigenen Stil ausmachen. Die Trio-Variationen mit Chris Tordini am Bass und Eric McPherson an den Drums sind Perlen, die lyrisch organisch fliessen und Tiefgang besitzen. Die Besetzung ist variabel, das Spiel der diversen Ensembles immer transparent und strukturiert. Das Quintett mit dem ebenfalls aus Genf stammenden Harmonika-Spieler Grégoire Maret setzt einen schönen Schlusspunkt auf diese gelungene Produktion.

We should be grateful for Ohad Talmor’s wide-ranging curiosity, not only because of the detective work he put into the Ornette Coleman/Lee Konitz recordings, but because of his uniquely varied presentations of these mostly unknown pieces.

Ohad Talmor, Back to the Land (2 CDs, Intakt Records)

Born in 1970 and raised in Geneva, the peripatetic saxophonist Ohad Talmor attended high school in the United States and subsequently studied musicology at the University of Geneva. He is best known in this country for his recordings with Steve Swallow and for his many enterprising collaborations with his mentor, Lee Konitz: these include big band arrangements, small groups, and his writing/arranging for the session that became Konitz’s New Nonet. The pair were nothing if not ambitious: I’ve just listened to Lee Konitz and the Axis String Quartet Play French Impressionist Music from the 20th Century. Talmor did the arrangements (and some of the composing) in these treatments of pieces by Debussy, Ravel, and Fauré.

Konitz was indirectly the inspiration for Talmor’s two-CD collection Back to the Land. The saxophonist tells us in his notes that the project partially followed the discovery of three tapes found in Lee Konitz’s effects after his death in 2020. The tapes contained a 1998 recording of two master alto saxophonists — Ornette Coleman and Konitz — informally rehearsing in Coleman’s loft. Talmor elaborates: “It was Ornette and Lee together with Charlie Haden and Billy Higgins, rehearsing all this new music that Ornette had just written for an upcoming concert…. They’re playing, stopping, talking about women, talking about reeds, things like that.” (Only a saxophonist would consider reeds and women comparable subjects for conversation.)

Talmor began to “make some assumptions” about this music, on tape and in incomplete, fluid form. Sometimes Konitz played the material one way and Coleman another. The result: Talmor came up with versions of 10 unknown, untitled Coleman tunes, and they form the core of Back to the Land. Added to these new tunes are several Ornette pieces (from other recordings) and Talmor originals, including the title cut. On top of that, he pays tribute to another saxophone mentor, Dewey Redman, with a pair of tracks — Redman’s “Dewey’s Tune” and “Mushi Mushi”. If I am hearing the tune correctly, the latter, though copyrighted by Redman, goes back a little further. Redman’s version, heard on Keith Jarrett’s Bop-be, seems to be a variation on Herbie Mann’s “Mushi Mushi,” which the flutist recorded at the Village Gate in 1965 and issued on the disc Standing Ovation at Newport. (Labeling on records wasn’t always accurate: the Village Gate is obviously not Newport. On the Bop-Be album, bassist Charlie Haden’s name is misspelled as Hayden.)

Talmor elaborates on his handling of the Coleman tunes: “All the pieces at some point are played trio in their purest form in very short three-minute versions, theme and variations. ‘Tune 4’ was given a new life with the four sextet variations, and the same thing with the septet on ‘Tune 1.’ Sometimes I added chords when I heard chords; other tunes were heavily reappropriated in an electronic environment.” This saxophonist/composer is his own man with his own mellifluous sound. Talmor’s playing doesn’t proffer the intense forward motion of Coleman’s, who at times could sound both totally in control and as if he were about to fall down the stairs. Instead of this kind of teetering fierceness, we have 24 lyrical tracks that include the exquisitely wistful beauty of “Tune 10,” whose theme is introduced with a harmonica solo by Grégoire Maret over the bass lines of Chris Tordini. Pianist Leo Genovese supplies an introduction that sounds as if it was from a soundtrack for the beginning of a French movie.

On “Tune 10,” Talmor’s gently probing solo is confined to the upper range of the tenor. He doesn’t sound like either Coleman or Konitz. His trio version of “Tune 1” is dreamy in a way that Coleman never was. Talmor adds variety to this collection by arranging some of the same tunes for different configurations. He brings in special guests. “Dewey’s Tune” opens with Joel Ross’s vibraphone solo, for instance. Talmor can evoke the Coleman spirit when he wants: “New York” opens with a bass solo whose calm use of space reminds this listener of Charlie Haden. The tune is taken from Coleman’s album Prime Time/ Time Design.

On the album’s second disc, Talmor plays with electronics. His “Astonishment” kicks off with a jumble of hissing/sissing sounds that soon leads to a conversation between prerecorded electronics and bass. It gives way to one of the most Coleman-sounding pieces, “Trio Variations on Tune 2.” Then we return to dollops of electronics on “A Good Question.” Variety is very much the spice of musical life for Talmor. We should be grateful for wide-ranging curiosity, not only because of the detective work he put into the Coleman/Konitz recordings, but because of...

Graliśmy:

Buechi – Hellmueller – Jerjen “Moon And Man” z albumu “Pink Mountain Sagas” – Intakt Records

Ohad Talmor “Accords – Quintet Variations On Tune 12” z albumu “Back to the Land” -– Intakt Records

Thumbscrew “Wayward” z albumu “Wingbeats” – Cuneiform Records

Kyle Brooks „Chrysalis” z albumu „Monarch”

Ryan Keberle & Catharsis “Hammersparks” z albumu “Music Is Connection”

Jason Anick, Jason Yeager “Lost” – z albumu “Sanctuary” – Sunnyside Records

Phil Bancroft Trio “B’s Niece” z albumu “Swings And Roundabouts” – Myriad

David Tixier “Inner Urge” z albumu “Goliath Protocol vol.1” – Somewhere Beyond Records

Adèle Viret Quartet “Pour Ceux Qui Sont Loin” z albumu “Close To The Water”

Møster! “Afterpiece” z albumu “Springs” – Action Jazz

Eldritch Priest “Outlaw” z albumu “Dormitive Virtue” – Halocline Trance

Feedbackorchester “Live At Zwinglikirche – A (Radio Edit)” z albumu “Live At Zwinglikirche” – Mirror World Music

Maurizio Giammarco Syncotribe Quintet “It’s Wearing Me Down” z albumu “Bliss Vol.1” – Parco Della Musica

Dario Miranda “All’ombra Del Tuo Sguardo” z albumu “La Dormirnte” – Losen Records

Here is a set focusing on great contemporary saxophone players and on jazz projects shaped by a confluence of genres, from Brazilian popular music to flamenco, to classical music.

Happy listening!

Playlist
Ben Allison "Mondo Jazz Theme (feat. Ted Nash & Pyeng Threadgill)" 0:00
Ryan Keberle & Catharsis "Vera Cruz" Music Is Connection (Alternate Side) 0:16
Host talks 5:36
Milton Nascimento, Esperanza Spalding "Wings for the Thought Bird" Milton + esperanza (Concord) 7:08
Marco Mezquida, feat Chicuelo "Najando" Del alma (Self-produced) 10:13
Host talks 15:42
Maurizio Giammarco & Syncotribe Quintet "Mobile" Bliss Vol. 1 (Parco della Musica) 17:34
Ohad Talmor "Accords—Quintet Variations on Tune 12" Back to the Land (Intakt) 23:23
Ohad Talmor "Accords for Two" Back to the Land (Intakt) 27:23
Ohad Talmor "Accords for Five" Back to the Land (Intakts) 28:23
Ohad Talmor "Accords for Four" Back to the Land (Intakt) 29:24
Host talks 30:23
Ben Solomon "Scene Change" Echolocation (Giant Step Arts) 31:21
Ben Solomon "Etude No. 17" Chromatophores Book II (5225146 Records DK2) 36:50

https://www.allaboutjazz.com/ohad-talmor-marco-mezquida-maurizio-giammarco-ben-solomon-and-more

Tenor saxophonist Ohad Talmor has fought through licensing issues that held back issuing his Back to the Land last year. The project has an interesting back story, not to mention highly original music. Talmor is releasing a double album of unreleased Ornette Coleman pieces from recently discovered DAT rehearsal tapes found in the basement of the home of the late Lee Konitz, Talmor’s mentor, friend, and father figure for three decades. After Konitz passed away early in the pandemic, Talmor was called in to go through Konitz’s musical belongings. During that process, he and drummer George Schuller discovered three DAT tapes which documented rehearsals that took place at Ornette Coleman’s loft in May 1998. It was Ornette and Lee together with Charlie Haden and Billy Higgins, rehearsing new music that Ornette had just written for an upcoming concert at the Umbria Jazz Festival. They played the music at Umbria and never again to anyone’s knowledge. None of it had been published. Talmor mixes these ten pieces with fourteen of his own originals.

This 2-CD set comes with three different configurations: Talmor’s working trio with bassist Chris Tordini and drummer Eric McPherson, a quintet that adds vibraphonist Joel Ross and pianist David Virelles; and on the second, the more electronic disc, a sextet/septet that features the trio plus keyboardists/electronics master Leo Genovese, trumpeters Shane Endsley and Russ Johnson, and Denis Lee on bass clarinet. Some of these musicians appear in other combos across the two discs. And there’s more – the special guests are Gregoire Maret on harmonica and Adam O’Farrill on trumpet. Talmor transcribed the ten unknown, nameless Ornette Coleman tunes which was difficult because it was a work in progress and required several assumptions. The process took on a new life when he started playing them with his trio, which led to expansion in several directions, likely not originally envisioned by Coleman.

The first track “Seeds “has Talmor with his trio along with Joel Ross, and David Virelles, done in one take, quite remarkable considering the interplay, in Talmor’s home, which also serves as the indie jazz venue, SEEDS, in Brooklyn. It is poetic that the piano heard on Back to the Land is Konitz’s old Steinway, which Talmor inherited and now resides there. Eleven of the 24 included the word “Variations” as Talmor Is not always trying to play Coleman’s compositions straight but to interpret them through the lens of his trio and accompanying musicians. The first of these is the “Trio Variations on Tune 11,” reminiscent of the highly diatonic Ornette tune “Free.” The quintet reconvenes for “Accords – Quintet Variations on Tune 12”- a mashup of Talmor’s original “Accords” with Coleman’s “Variations.” While these three pieces are highly improvisational in a Coleman-esque vein if you will, “Kathlyn Grey,” also a Coleman composition, is a gorgeously trio rendered melancholic ballad. Other highlights on Disc One include “Dewey’s Tune” with Ross and Virelles in homage to Talmor’s first tenor teacher, Dewey Redman who composed the piece. Fans of the group Old and New Dreams, like this writer, will especially gravitate toward this one. “Quartet Variations on Tune*” includes trumpeters Johnson and Endsley with bassist Tordini sitting out. Without a bassist the tune takes on a “middle eastern” flair with the two horns playing in clear counterpoint practically throughout. Tordini shines however on “New York,” also known as the first movement of Ornette’s String 4tet “Prime Design/Time Design.” Disc One ends with Redman’s “Mushi, Mushi” with the trio plus Genovese interpreting the tune originally recorded by Keith Jarrett’s American Quartet.

The second disc is a musical journey of 14 pieces meant to be played without a break. Five were composed by Coleman with the balance from Talmor. Virelles and Ross play the chord sequence of “Accords for Two” without improvisation, a minute long piece of which’s theme is repeated throughout the 14. “Variations on Tune 1” is the first Coleman tune Talmor transcribed, a tender, fragile, blues rendered by the trio. “Three Septet Variations on Tune 1” is the first of four larger ensemble pieces. Highly improvisational and Bruckner-like in terms of harmonics, it includes light synths and Lee’s bass clarinet. “Accords for Five” repeats the sequence from track I with Adam O’Farrill and Talmor contributing synth arrangements and the former brilliant as usual in his soloing. Talmore admits to Coleman’s “Trio Variations on Tune 2” being the hardest to play as the 12/8 feel was difficult to notate. Drummer McPherson navigates the different speeds deftly. Talmor’s “Electric Sunglasses,” a feature for McPherson is one of the more contemporary and electronic of the pieces with an intriguing and partially hidden electric bass line, Genovese on piano and various synths, with Endsley, Johnson, and Talmor faintly in the distant.

“Back to the Land” is the shortest...

Saxophonist Ohad Talmor pays tribute to Ornette Colleman's music . The double album " Back to the Land " showcases the musicians' virtuosity and the compositional talent of the father of free jazz, Ornette Colleman . The program for the session, which took place at Brooklyn's Seed studio in the spring of 2023, included previously unpublished compositions by Coleman, which were found in the apartment of Lee Konitz (who died in 2020). These were three tapes of rehearsals by Ornette Coleman and Lee Konitz, which had never been published before. Ohad Talmor transcribed these compositions, enriching the entire set with a composition by Dewey Redman and several of his own pieces, maintained in the convention of improvised and modern jazz. All variations are based on original compositions by Ornette Coleman. Among the previously unpublished ones were, among others: "Kathlyn Gray", "New York", "Peace Warriors " by Ornette Coleman, and " Mushi Mushi " and " Dewey's Tune" composed by Dewey Redman.

Ohad Talmor – an expressive improviser and excellent stylist, is a global cosmopolitan from France, living in Switzerland, Israel and the USA. Born in Lyon and raised in Geneva, in 1995 he came to New York to study music. Since then he has become a person who activates the creative jazz scene in Brooklyn, New York. " Back to the Land " is a sensational album that Ohad Talmor recorded with his trio (bassist Chris Tordini and drummer Eric McPherson ) and invited excellent musicians: Joel Ross (vibraphone), David Virelles (piano), Leo Genovese (piano and synthesizer), trumpet players ( Shane Endsley, Russ Johnson and Adam O'Farrill ), harmonica player Grégoire Maret . Ohad Talmor, tenor saxophonist, bass clarinetist, synthesizer player and arranger of unknown compositions by O. Colleman, transformed the session into a personal story, presenting himself here as the heir to the artistic heritage of avant-garde jazz.

https://jazz.pl/ohad-talmor-back-to-the-land-intakt-records/