A new sound is coming out of Israel.
The fusion of cultures in the region is starting to show its influences within the music that is created here.
Rea bar ness is part of a group of young musicians, who in the past few years have been creating and experimenting with music that is truly Israeli. Elements from Arabic and middle eastern music, as well as from eastern European music are used in this art form, creating a sound that is unique, refreshing and an innovating addition to the jazz world.
In this record, rea shows his talent as a composer, as well as a diverse drummer, using his experience in playing Middle Eastern music, jazz and his background as a timpani player in symphony orchestras. Rea's sound is unmistakable; his powerful playing is a contrast to some of the lyrical melodies on this debut album.

Many attempts have been made by musicians to create a synthesis between Eastern and Western cultures. Generally the result is that either the Western or Eastern form dominates while the other is merely used for ornamentation. For the past several years Bustan Abraham has met this challenge and has succeeded in pioneering a unique form of instrumental music which combines elements of both these Eastern and Western forms without sacrificing the musical integrity of either...

The second album of Bustan Abraham, is another step foreword along Bustan's artistic journey.
Many attempts have been made by musicians to create a synthesis between Eastern and Western cultures. Generally the result is that either the Western or Eastern form dominates while the other is merely used for ornamentation. For the past several years Bustan Abraham has met this challenge and has succeeded in pioneering a unique form of instrumental music which combines elements of both these Eastern and Western forms without sacrificing the musical integrity of either.

The internationalism of jazz has accounted for much of its innovation for at least the past decade. A restless and protean art form, jazz in hindsight may be described in improvisational terms that are responsible for its constant renewal and its avoidance of rigid categorization as it absorbs new and sometimes disparate elements. Third World Love came into existence through such a global outlook.
Three of the quartet’s musicians moved from Israel to New York City where they immersed themselves in the city’s jazz scene, which JazzTimes says experienced in 2007 “a tidal surge” of talent from that country. Yet the members of Third World Love didn’t perform as a group until New Yorker Daniel Freedman joined them in Barcelona, Spain in 2004. Since that time, they have recorded four CD’s, not to mention performing to much acclaim and excitement around the world. New Blues, Third World Love’s latest release, suggests the influence of the world’s cultures upon the members as it includes a broad assortment of styles, including flamenco, Arabic modes, American blues, Sephardic meters, Eastern European ornaments, jazz changes, European classical references and Afro-Caribbean percussiveness.

Omer Avital’s bass opens Sketch of Tel Aviv unaccompanied. He’s well recorded, and at once his mastery is clear. The quartet with muted trumpet sounds like something quiet and Cuban, but “A Touch of Tahini” breaks out in passionate style, Avishai Cohen a flaming trumpeter and Yonatan Avishai no cocktail pianist. There is more to music than sounding pretty, though the band can do that on appropriate occasions.

The deliberately stilted beginning to the title track takes in Kurt Weill and a touch of Latin and even some funk devices, and probably Klezmer, but all are integrated through an amazing surge somehow involving bass and trumpet. There’s a sense that these guys could play—always brilliantly—a wide range of different musics pretty well contiguous with jazz, and that what they’re about here is a flirtation with rather a large number of them. Havana Naguila?

This is the second recording by Israeli guitarist Amos Hoffman that features him as an oud player, following Na'ama (Magda, 2006). Hoffman, who began playing the guitar when he was six years old and the oud a few years later, studied with Lebanese oud and nay player Bassam Saba, while he was living in New York.
For this recording Hoffman recruited good friend and prominent Israeli bass player Avishai Cohen, after playing on Cohen's recent recordings, veteran Israeli percussionist Ilan Katchka and flute player Ilan Salem. All ten compositions are by Hoffman, and feature him as a composer with a rich sense of melody who enjoys stretching Middle-Eastern scales and African rhythms. He clearly knows how to articulate infectious themes on the oud, as featured on "Enayim," "Silence" and "Hamsa."

'Na'ama' is a refreshing album at the current ethnic music scenery.
Amos Hoffman, a gifted composer and oud player, composed all 12 songs, and performs them while successfully preserving the Arabic music tradition, at the same time combining elements of jazz, latin music and world music.
Hoffman's works is relatively traditional but he adds unusual instruments such as the marimba, which is rarely used in Arab music.
The combination of various instruments and styles to create a unique "fusion" comes naturally to Hoffman, as a musician living in two worlds - the Eastern & Western worlds.
The album is both fascinating and surprising, especially considering Hoffman's Ashkenazi roots (Eastern European).
Instrumental oud album with a Western approach, featuring top musicians:
Amos Hoffman - Oud ; Joshua Levit - Ney ; Ehab Nimer - Violin ; Omer Avital - Bass ; Tomer Zur - Percussion ; Rea Bar Nes - Percussion & Marimba.
One also finds the famous jazz bass player Avishai Cohen as guest musician on track #11

Trumpeter Roy Hargrove's fourth (and as it now turns out, final) release for RCA/Novus was recorded live at various clubs in the Midwest and on the West Coast, and it offers good clues as to why he left the label. It isn't so much that they did anything wrong; the mastering, mixing, mike balances, and sound are good throughout this session. But Hargrove senses that something has been missing in the music for RCA/Novus dates. There is a low-key feel to much of this music, even on tunes where he is doing superb technical maneuvering. Hargrove's discs are improving at an amazing pace. There is plenty that is enjoyable about the disc's 11 tracks, but there is never a sense of urgency, and it is time for Hargrove to assess the situation and see if it can be corrected. ~ Ron Wynn, All Music Guide

Part of a dual release with the RH Factor's Distractions, this Quintet recording kicks off with Leo Quintero's sizzling title track and the upbeat tempo continues throughout with such songs as Burno's "Devil Eyes" and Matthews' driving "Salima's Dance." Hargrove takes over the composing duties with his beautiful "Trust," the fiery "Camaraderie," and the multi-textured "The Gift."

Arranged and produced by Shimshai, 'I Sense Your Presence' is the first album from this artist, sure to be followed by many more. For another flavor be sure to check out the new release from Shimshai & the Natural Mystiquensemble, "Toward the One."
Shimshai takes root in the Essene tradition, but ultimately adheres only to universal devotion of spirit.
Always driven by a passion for music, and to touch that place deep within each of our souls, this recording is truly a muti-layered journey of love, light and truth.

Roy Hargrove with Strings delivers the finest playing of his career with Moment To Moment, a beautiful collection of ballads, standards, and originals.
In the tradition of landmark Verve recordings Charlie Parker with Strings and Clifford Brown with Strings, lush string arrangements create the perfect tapestry for Hargrove’s soaring trumpet and flugelhorn.
With support from the delicate interplay of Roy’s working band, Moment To Moment is easily one of the first classic recordings of the 21st century.

Roy Hargrove is a GRAMMY-award winning recording artist whose first disc as a jazz leader was released in 1990. Considered by many to be one of the premiere trumpet players on the music scene today, has long had a fascination for, and love of, R&B, Funk, and classic Soul music. Hard Groove is the realization of a musical dream come true. The RH Factor is the identity that composer/arranger Hargrove has coined for the musical collective he's assembled for Hard Groove. Like a 21st Century Quincy Jones, the trumpeter has brought together a diverse array of musicians from his recent collaborative efforts to create an organic musical street party at the corner of hip-hop and bop, encompassing many of his musical passions-the slow-grinding soul of Funkadelic's "I'll Stay" with a sultry vocal by D'Angelo; Common's free-styled rap intro on the aptly titled "Common Free Style"; both Q-Tip and Erykah Badu bringing their distinctive hip-hop and R&B sounds to the party-like funk of "Poetry".

Family is a selection of 15 tunes drawn from a recording project that Roy has long envisioned, in honor of those people closest to him. On Roy's last project, With Tenors Of Our Time, the attempt was to show how his talent emerged in the company of a series of outstanding tenor saxophonists whose own recorded efforts span some forty years. Family shifts the focus, casting the net more broadly and in a direction that seeks to highlight those fundamental relationships from which his life as a key figure in the present jazz renaissance has developed.

Distractions is jam-packed with new jams from The RH Factor. From the old-school vibe of "Crazy Race" to the down-and-dirty instrumental "Kansas City Funk," this much-anticipated disc grooves with an organic funk/soul sound. It is yet another world that Hargrove lives in comfortably, and he once again shows off his talents as a composer. He wrote or co-wrote nearly all of Distractions' nine compositions including "Can't Stop" and the title track, an extended jam captured here in four parts. (Hargrove wrote most of the horn arrangements
on both discs.)
Vocalist Renee Neufville (formerly of the R&B duo Zhané) is also featured throughout Distractions as a singer, keyboardist, and songwriter. Her "On the One" is a magical retro tour and the ultra-funky "Hold On" (co-written with Hargrove) is a pure taste of P-Funk delight. Hargrove again calls in friend and collaborator D'Angelo for this RH Factor outing. The R&B star wrote, produced, and sings the track "Bull****," which also features backing vocals by Hargrove...

In the liner notes, trumpeter Roy Hargrove declares that Earfood was recorded to bring pleasure to the listener. This may seem like a superfluous statement, after all, which artist doesn't want to please the listening public? What Hargrove means, is that the aim of the game is to offer up catchy melodies with a minimum of unnecessary artistic baggage; tunes as opposed to ambience, sweet harmony in place of dissonance. There isn't a fractured rhythm within earshot, nor an obscure time signature, just unpretentious, good-time music.