Home » Jazz Articles » Album Review » Kobi Arad Band: Sketches of Imaginary Landscapes

172

Kobi Arad Band: Sketches of Imaginary Landscapes

By

Sign in to view read count
Kobi Arad Band: Sketches of Imaginary Landscapes
Dr. Kobi Arad hails from Israel, currently resides in New York City and received a doctorate in Contemporary Improvisation and Third Stream jazz, which are foundations and concepts that radiate on Sketches of Imaginary Landscapes. The keyboardist's improvisational skills and creative proclivities envelop this not-so-standard, jazz-based piano trio session.

On the fringes of jazz-fusion, Arad toggles between acoustic and electric keyboards. He crafts a fluent and potent set of works in concert with his revved-up rhythm section amid a progression of undulating flows and keenly articulated dynamics. With his buttery-toned and forceful synth work, Arad pursues a consortium of ideas, largely executed at a rapid pace. The keyboardist dances, darts, and flails across the eighty-eights, while eliciting imagery of sprinkling rays of right, zigzagging across the listening space.

Arad devises a coherent balance, straddling high-octane piano jazz and streaming jazz-fusion metrics, sans any overindulgent tendencies. He intertwines a contemporary classical tone in spots, and engineers numerous, rhythmically inclined theme-building forays via bursting arpeggios and intensifying opuses.

"Interia" signifies a unique compositional structure built on an electronic clavinet sound and an abrupt, yet stately melody, but the keyboardist then proceeds to reverse and reconstruct the currents into sprightly improvisational vehicles. At times, Arad treks into the freer realm, while on "Down the Ladder," he twirls down with mesmeric choruses, and then perpetuates a feisty electric piano groove atop Tucker Yaro's thrusting bass lines.

Arad provides bonus tracks, including a jazzy reconstruction of Thelonious Monk's "Round Midnight," culled from his performance at The Blue Note, along with two works with cellist Yonatan Niv, recorded at venues in Tel Aviv. Sketches of Imaginary Landscapes professes a colorific mosaic and all-embracing portraiture of an artist who transmits an active imagination, supported by his exceptional technical faculties and perspicacious vision.

Track Listing

Up the Ladder; Bird Eye's View; Interia; The Life Inside; Muon's Dance !; Secret Levels; High Urban Life; Touching Earth; Down the Ladder; Bird Eye's View (Live at The Blue Note NYC); Round Midnight (Live at The Blue Note NYC); Bird Eye's View (Live in Shablul, Tel Aviv); Interia (Live in Shablul, Tel Aviv); New Awareness (Live in Shablul, Tel Aviv).

Personnel

Kobi Arad
piano

Kobi Arad: piano, keyboards; Ray "Mr. Fantastik" McNaught: drums; Tucker Yaro: bass.

Album information

Title: Sketches of Imaginary Landscapes | Year Released: 2011 | Record Label: Self Produced

Comments

Tags


For the Love of Jazz
Get the Jazz Near You newsletter All About Jazz has been a pillar of jazz since 1995, championing it as an art form and, more importantly, supporting the musicians who create it. Our enduring commitment has made "AAJ" one of the most culturally important websites of its kind, read by hundreds of thousands of fans, musicians and industry figures every month.

You Can Help
To expand our coverage even further and develop new means to foster jazz discovery and connectivity we need your help. You can become a sustaining member for a modest $20 and in return, we'll immediately hide those pesky ads plus provide access to future articles for a full year. This winning combination will vastly improve your AAJ experience and allow us to vigorously build on the pioneering work we first started in 1995. So enjoy an ad-free AAJ experience and help us remain a positive beacon for jazz by making a donation today.

More

Fiesta at Caroga
Afro-Caribbean Jazz Collective
Fellowship
David Gibson
Immense Blue
Olie Brice / Rachel Musson / Mark Sanders

Popular

Get more of a good thing!

Our weekly newsletter highlights our top stories, our special offers, and upcoming jazz events near you.