On her debut release, classically trained violinist Miri Ben-Ari is joined by guitarist Mark Whitfield, percussionist Valtinho Anastacio, keyboardist, programmer, and producer, Ohad, bassist Boris Cozlov, and drummer Steve Hass. The nine tunes range from the disco-like “Rejoice,” to the Betty Carter tribute, “Room 511.” Ben-Ari’s violin intro on this number has a bluegrass feel, and Whitfield’s guitar licks reinforce the notion, while keeping to a very swinging, jazzy mood. There’s some nice trading between the two. Whitfield also solos on “The Scrapper,” “Dream,” and “Easy Now.” You’re right to think those last two titles suggest a new age, smooth jazz orientation. Ben-Ari, who studied with Yehudi Menuhin and Isaac Stern, has plenty of chops, and feeling too. Now, if only her material were less “sweet” [the result of producer Ohad’s programming], and closer to what she plays on the Debriano release.
Originally PublishedRelated Posts
Sonny Terry/Brownie McGhee: Backwater Blues
Start Your Free Trial to Continue Reading
Become a JazzTimes member to explore our complete archive of interviews, profiles, columns, and reviews written by music’s best journalists and critics.
Jonathan Butler: The Simple Life
Jonathan Butler’s optimistic music belies a dirt-poor childhood growing up in a South Africa segregated by apartheid. Live in South Africa, a new CD and DVD package, presents a sense of the resulting inner turmoil, mixed with dogged resolve, that paved the way to his status as an icon in his country and successful musician outside of it. Looking back, the 46-year-old Butler says today, the driving forces that led to his overcoming apartheid-the formal policy of racial separation and economic discrimination finally dismantled in 1993-were family, faith and abundant talent.
“When we were kids, our parents never talked about the ANC [African National Congress] or Nelson Mandela,” he says. Butler was raised as the youngest child in a large family. They lived in a house patched together by corrugated tin and cardboard, in the “coloreds only” township of Athlone near Cape Town. “They never talked about struggles so we never knew what was happening.”
Start Your Free Trial to Continue Reading
Become a JazzTimes member to explore our complete archive of interviews, profiles, columns, and reviews written by music’s best journalists and critics.
Harry Connick, Jr.: Direct Hits
Two decades after his commercial breakthrough, Harry Connick Jr. taps legendary producer Clive Davis for an album of crooner roots and beloved tunes
Scott LaFaro
Previously unavailable recordings and a new bio illuminate the legend of bassist Scott LaFaro