(Jazz in ECM style / Progressive Jazz ) Tal Gur - Air Portrait - 2007, APE (image+.cue) lossless

#777Bio:
Born in 1978 in israel, Tal started playing and study the saxophone at the age of 11 in Qiryat Tivon conservatory. After having basic skills such as classical training and playing with Tivon orchestra, he discovered the improvisation while playing in a sax jazz quintet. His curiousity led him to master other instruments such as bass, piano, drums and guitar and walked first steps as a composer and as a performer. After military service he studied sound engineering in Tel aviv and between 2002-2005 he studied at the Rubin academy of music and dance in Jerusalem, for a bachelor degree in performance arts. By this time Tal participated with a various groups which performed and recorded in Israel and Europe different styles such as jazz, rock, hassidic and balkanian. His experience, education and personality gave him a unique approach for music and sound which led to create music who speaks the existence of mind and soul throughout the body of life. winner of "america israel cultural foundation" 2004-2005. Tal Graduated from Bar Ilan University for a master degree in music therapy in 2009.
Influences:
Chopin, Pink Floyd, Jan Garbarek, Ido Bukelman, Sasha Argov, Sting, Dire Straits, Arik Einstein, Thelonious Monk, Murice Ravel, Shalom Hanoch, Lea Goldberg, Pinhas Sadee, Alexander Pen, The Valley of Izreel, Mahne Yehuda Market, Winter, Rice, Water.

#777Young Israeli alto and soprano saxophonist Tal Gur's debut features him leading a quartet comprised of fellow young Israeli players: drummer Ariel Armoni, who collaborated recently with Israeli pianist Daniel Sarid on TR (Levontin 7, 2007); guitarist Ido Bukelman, who is a member of Israeli jazz quartet The Rats, and bassist Ehud Ettun. Classically trained, Gur performs and records jazz, rock, Hassidic and Balkan music, in addition to studying sound engineering. For Air Portrait, Gur composed all six tracks.
The sound of Gur's saxophones indeed captures the attention, but can be annoying. After the brief electronic introduction of "Buds of Cyclamens," "Detours" finds Gur riding above the fusion guitar lines of Bukelman, who sounds as if he adopted the 1980s ECM-era sound of Bill Frisell, with a sweet and light sound that never gathers substantial volume or power. "Cyclamens" retains the same atmosphere, but leaves enough room for the inventive Armoni and Ettun to explore more interesting sonic detours over the reserved fretting of Bukelman. Gur joins in on the last third only, gently emphasizing the melodic theme of this cinematic composition.
Gur begins "Sholem" with a soft vibrating tone, letting Bukelman to take the lead for another impressionistic solo before both begin digging deeper and searching for more challenging interplay, but this attempt remains a brief one. Than, when it appears that this quartet will never break out of its subdued comfort zone, it surprises you with a tight and mean fusion piece, "Whirlpool," that demonstrates some muscle and an angry sound. Bukelman adds some distortion to his guitar and abandons the Frisell-ian texture, while Gur pushes deeper for a more varied and nuanced sound with solid support from Ettun and Armoni. The last piece, "Silent High Tide," sounds like a compromise between the earlier impressionistic tracks that fails to linger in the memory, and a more meaningful sound exploration in the vein of "Whirlpool."

Tal Gur - straight alto saxophone, soprano saxophone, keyboard
Ido Bukelman - guitar
Ariel Armoni - drums
Ehud Ettun - upright bass.