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Gilad Atzmon and the Orient House Ensemble

Refuge

Enja TIP-888 849 2

'A language with some very personal shapes and colours' is Gilad Atzmon's description of his band the Orient House Ensemble's approach, and anyone who's heard their live performances (and they've played regularly at the Vortex over the past couple of years) will know exactly what he means: in addition to the hard-edged yet rapturous, contemplative music centred on Atzmon's powerfully declamatory alto and the extraordinary eastern-tinged skirling sound he is also able to achieve, the OHE can transform itself at will into a funky little fusion band with Atzmon on soprano, Yaron Stavi on electric bass and the usually lyrically mellifluous Frank Harrison on multi-textured electronics and keyboards.

With the peerless drummer Asaf Sirkis sensitively propelling the band through whatever style they've chosen, the OHE is one of the most uncontrivedly versatile and unequivocally entertaining jazz units currently operating in the UK, infused as they are with their leader's musical and political passion, but never content to perform exclusively accompanying roles; all the various ingredients of their music, from snatches of spoken-word recordings and electronica to relatively straightforward muscular post-bop, are assimilated into the band sound with a natural ease and thoroughness that entirely vindicate Atzmon's claims about a personal language.

Recommended ’ but mainly as an appetiser for the band's current 30-gig UK tour, which takes them everywhere from Whitby to Hastings, and from St Ives to Chester.