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The Dream Thief, the first ECM release by Maestro as a leader, presents the Israeli pianist fronting the latest incarnation of his uncommonly interactive, atmospherically expansive trio, featuring new drummer Ofri Nehemya, a fellow Israeli, and its bassist from the start, Jorge Roeder, a native of Peru. The album also includes several searching solo performances by Maestro. His solo interpretation of Israeli singer-songwriter Matti Caspi\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s \u00e2\u20ac\u0153My Second Childhood\u00e2\u20ac\u009d raises the curtain on a program of characteristically vivid Maestro originals.<\/p>\n
Maestro, who made his first ECM appearance on vocalist Theo Bleckmann\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s 2017 album Elegy, made a name for himself playing in Israeli bassist Avishai Cohen\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s popular band from 2006 to 2011. A resident of Brooklyn and a dual Israeli and American citizen, the pianist also played in star drummer Mark Guiliana\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s quartet and has recently worked in a duo with saxophonist Chris Potter. After four trio albums with Roeder and drummer Ziv Ravitz, Maestro drafted Nehemya into the group, which gathered to record The Dream Thief at the studio in Lugano. Maestro chose the darker-toned of two Steinway model D pianos on offer, apt for what he calls \u00e2\u20ac\u0153the dreamy, cinematic quality\u00e2\u20ac\u009d of the music he had written for the session. With Manfred Eicher producing, the atmosphere in the studio was one of being \u00e2\u20ac\u0153open to the magic of the moment,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d Maestro recalls. \u00e2\u20ac\u0153I had a clear intention for the pieces, but I knew that Manfred likes to let the music breathe, to get to the essence of the music. For instance, my composition \u00e2\u20ac\u02dcLifeline\u00e2\u20ac\u2122 had been a double-time burner live, but Manfred suggested that we take it down about 50 bpm and concentrate on making the melody sing, in the way Charlie Haden might do. That really transformed the tune.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<\/p>\n
Another spontaneous creation was Maestro\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s solo performance of Caspi\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s \u00e2\u20ac\u0153My Second Childhood,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d a song about experiencing life anew via the eyes of a child. The Israeli composer is one of the pianist\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s \u00e2\u20ac\u0153all-time favorites \u00e2\u20ac\u201c I grew up listening to him, and even took lessons with Caspi when I was 12,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d he says. \u00e2\u20ac\u0153I had arrived at the studio early before Jorge and Ofri, just to commune with the piano. I hadn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t planned to include that tune, but it just came out, as it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s so deep in my system. I have a real appreciation for the DNA of a great song, where the melody and the harmony go perfectly together. It\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s the same thing with \u00e2\u20ac\u02dcThese Foolish Things,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d which is also such a beautifully crafted song. I was just improvising, and it morphed into a kind of avant-garde treatment \u00e2\u20ac\u201c yet with the melody still like a red thread wound through it.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<\/p>\n
Maestro and Roeder have played together for about seven years, developing a synergistic partnership even though they come \u00e2\u20ac\u0153from the opposite ends of music in a way,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d the pianist explains. \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Jorge has experience playing a lot of free music, while I studied both classical and jazz and have played a lot more arranged, rhythmically defined music. I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ve become freer playing with him. He can travel back and forth from off the grid to in the pocket, and he has such great ears. I can take the music where I want to go, and he\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s right there with me, where we can almost improvise in unison.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d Although Nehemya is new to the group, he and the pianist have an innate kinship. \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Ofri and I share a lot of influences \u00e2\u20ac\u201c we don\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t even have to talk about things to come to the same emotional expressions,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d Maestro says. \u00e2\u20ac\u0153But he also has an advanced, new-generation rhythmic understanding, so he can really push and challenge Jorge and me.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<\/p>\n
Whether it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s \u00e2\u20ac\u0153going with the melody or really burning and playing free, we always try to be attuned to the moment, trying to find that magic in it,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d Maestro says. \u00e2\u20ac\u0153With \u00e2\u20ac\u02dcLifeline,\u00e2\u20ac\u2122 \u00e2\u20ac\u02dcThe Forgotten Village\u00e2\u20ac\u2122 and \u00e2\u20ac\u02dcA Moon\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s Tale,\u00e2\u20ac\u2122 we were concentrating on melody, while rhythmic interplay was the focus of \u00e2\u20ac\u02dcThe Dream Thief\u00e2\u20ac\u2122 and \u00e2\u20ac\u02dcNew River, New Water\u00e2\u20ac\u2122.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d As for the deeply moving end piece, \u00e2\u20ac\u0153What Else Needs to Happen,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d incorporating parts of speeches by Barack Obama, the pianist explains: \u00e2\u20ac\u0153An acquaintance of mine, the saxophonist Jimmy Greene, lost his little daughter in the massacre at Sandy Hook, Connecticut. These school shootings in America have become so common, almost \u00e2\u20ac\u02dcnormal\u00e2\u20ac\u2122 \u00e2\u20ac\u201c it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s surreal, insane. When I realized what happened for Jimmy and the rest of those parents, it felt so close \u00e2\u20ac\u201c it was heartbreaking. I understand that in jazz a piece like this I could be \u00e2\u20ac\u02dcpreaching to the choir,\u00e2\u20ac\u2122 but \u00e2\u20ac\u02dcWhat Else Needs to Happen\u00e2\u20ac\u2122 is about being open to the moment in another way. I think performing artists, because we have a stage, have a responsibility to speak about the world we live in today. Maybe the combination of Obama\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s words and the music will help people hear and feel the emotional reality a bit more. It is, for me, at least some measure of resistance to that horrible new \u00e2\u20ac\u02dcnormal\u00e2\u20ac\u2122.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<\/p>\n
Line Up<\/u><\/strong><\/p>\n Shai Maestro: piano<\/p>\n Jorge Roeder: double-bass<\/p>\n Ofri Nehemya: drums<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" The Dream Thief, the first ECM release by Maestro as a leader, presents the Israeli pianist fronting the latest incarnation of his uncommonly interactive, atmospherically expansive trio, featuring new drummer Ofri Nehemya, a fellow Israeli, and its bassist from the start, Jorge Roeder, a native of Peru. The album also includes several searching solo performances […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":6,"featured_media":8615,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[172],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-8614","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-unkategorisiert"],"yoast_head":"\n