Tales of Utopia

Shalosh - Tales of UtopiaCD / Vinyl / digital Gadi Stern piano and keys David Michaeli double bass Matan Assayag drums Once again the groove is catchy, the way of shaping melodies utterly distinctive; these aspects define the sound of Shalosh. And once again, the trio is incredibly tight – after all, the band’s name does mean “three” in Hebrew. "Heavy jazz!", declared German Rolling Stone magazine; The critic from the british Times found them "full of promise". At Deutschlandfunk, there was talk of "jazz in the fast lane", once again reaching "young jazz fans all over Europe". The French magazine Paris Move writes excitedly the band is “indispensable”. The three musicians, each contribute their musical predilections - jazz, classical music, grunge, rock, techno or folk - into the common organism, in which all these elements are rendered into an exciting mixture. And through their inspirational concerts around the globe, there has been constant further refinement. They take audiences with them by challenging them: this is music which aims to appeal to the heart, engage the intellect and get straight through to the dancing feet.Things could have just gone on as they were, but much has changed since 2020's “Broken Balance”. "It's a different world now," says Gadi Stern, "and you can hear that on the new album. Back then everything was fine, there was more or less nothing missing. But now there's a sense of the end of the world all around us." So, on "Tales of Utopia”, Shalosh have taken their music, their way of telling stories through sound, and placed them in a bigger context. Drawing elements from the Old Testament and the Odyssey, they combine Christian and Greek mythology in a way which is individual...rhapsodic. The connecting of world cultures gives a common thread to the album:A young hero is travelling into the unknown. But what is unknown to him is not just the external world, but also the inner self. Every journey also leads to increased self-awareness, and that makes him stronger. "Tales of Utopia" is about how utopian thinking is based on the preoccupation with one's own self, on concentration and meditation. Keeping that focus well honed functions as the antidote to information overkill.Shalosh envisage their music as a place of refuge. In a crisis-ridden world, their aim is to give strength, comfort and inspiration. and provide support against pandemics, tanks and slogans. Using an episodic structure derived from epic theatre, they present an image of arriving in the big city and being deluged with new impressions. The hero has to find his way through a market alive with strange smells, colours and movement. Then, dramatically, he leaves the metropolis at sunset. We witness a boat being rolled by the waves of the ocean, and also three sisters on an island who take care of the hero, their voices intertwining. The king's dreams come unstuck in all the turbulence, he also receives some poor advice. But all then comes to a happy ending in a Moroccan-inspired wedding song, as a band of friends all gather in one room for a party with handclapping and singing. We are propelled through this timeless story by the wonderful Shalosh sound. It is as if the band has found just the right places to insert all of these stories into a vast painting. The chronology of events has been brilliantly adapted to make the musical flow feel natural. The recording process has also been reimagined. Without headphones or amps, the three recorded their song-like stories in physical proximity to each other, as if playing live. It sounded rougher and more direct, because the room had an acoustic which was so alive. What was important was what the lyrics would trigger musically. "Inside the room we could escape the troubles of the world," recalls drummer Matan Assayag. "For three or four hours we focused on the music and formulated our utopia. That way we could block out the external pressures. That's the meaning behind the title. Our previous album reflected the world outside, this one is about inner harmony." "Tales of Utopia" documents a search for poise and peacefulness. Gadi and Matan have recently become fathers. This positive energy has flowed in. "Art makes the world better" is the way they describe their intentions. "We want to bring beauty into the world and create a feeling that people can be happy in themselves. They have to relearn that, and also place themselves in relation to the constant flood of information so that more and more doesn't actually mean less and less. Our children were the best teachers in this because they are fascinated by small things. That's how you can overcome the destructive." There is more going on here than mere everyday pragmatism. This is exciting music, a panoply of colours and timbres. It invites the listener to be enchanted and to focus on its sheer beauty. It also has deep humanity: rather than striving for perfection, it bristles with energy and vitality. Credits: Music composed, arranged and produced by Shalosh Cover art "Blokeret dør, 2000" by Tal R

Shalosh - Broken BalanceCD / digital Gadi Stern piano & synths David Michaeli double bass Matan Assayag drums "Life never goes in a straight line. Our world is full of surprises. Things we have known forever can change before our very eyes. So the challenge is to keep level-headed, to ensure that our lives stay in balance on the personal, the social and the political level.” Shalosh capture this attitude in their music, and especially in "Broken Balance"."More drama, more pushing at the extremes, more sideways looks" – that was the motto for the album. The Tel Aviv-based trio cheerfully mix and contrast styles and genres; they're far too nimble to be categorized. They play with the complementary extremes of strength of impact and fragility. "We are always Shalosh. That is how we act, as one; our sound can be swing...or death metal." There is nothing random about their musical choices, however. Shalosh is like one organism, its parts instinctively breathing together. They tell stories too. Be-cause Shalosh genuinely do have something to say. They want to inspire, to make references, to ask questions, and the miracle is that they do it all wordlessly. The album gets going with “The Orphan Boy Who Wanted To Be A King”. The track has a dreamy opening, and also has a story to it. An orphaned child is contemplating a vision of what it would be like to be a king. As the melody grows and evolves, that dream starts to feel more and more real. “The Emperor’s New Clothes” deals with paranoia and disaster in the minds of some of our current political leaders, who have lost all sense of humanity and decency. The elegiac tune about David Bowie in Berlin finds ways to transform a newspaper photo that brings bad news into an artistic statement.“The Birth Of Homo Deus” is the soundtrack to a three-part film script by Gadi Stern, in which computers have taken charge – and made the world a better place. The impromptu ballad “Quiet Corner” is the album’s refuge of calm. In “Breed”, the album’s only cover, the trio take on the rocky riffs of Nirvana. And the bonus track “Party On A Powder Keg” captures the para-doxical Israeli emotions that arise when witnessing celebrations while a war is going on. Shalosh make intensely insistent music which appeals to the feelings rather than taxing the brain. This music without words has immediacy, catchiness and strength - and yet delicacy as well. There is an irrepressible joy, a physicality that goes straight to the feet, and yet their hooky melodies have a way of circling, of pausing and then moving forward, and of growing inexorably. Shalosh have a sense of being implanted in tradition but with a perceptive eye for the future.Credits: Music composed, arranged and produced by Shalosh except Breed by Kurt Cobain Recorded by Michael Dahlvid at Nilento Studio, Gothenburg, February 3rd-5th, 2020 Sound design by Lars Nilsson Mixed and mastered by Lars Nilsson Piano sound design on the “Orphan Boy” by Arik Finkelberg Produced by Shalosh

Various Artists - Magic Moments 12CD / digitalOne World Of Music. The ACT label has jazz at its core, and an openness to all kinds of musical directions: pop, rock, the music of singer-songwriters and traditional folkloric forms such as flamenco and tango. These very different genres nonetheless never fail to find new and magical ways to work together. The twelfth Magic Moments compilation presents exciting music "in the Spirit of Jazz". All kinds of pleasure await the listener during its 71 minutes. And what can one expect to hear in this world so far away from a single predetermined style? There are surprises, obviously. Plus several chances to reconnect with established and familiar stars. And discoveries of some genuinely exciting newcomers. The opening track is from Iiro Rantala on solo piano. His portrait of the month of "August" is from "My Finnish Calendar", an album which sets to music the course of an entire year in his home country from a very personal point of view. Argentinian tango is a prime example of a musical tradition which is not just lively but is also constantly developing. The Javier Girotto Trio proves the point in "Deus Xango" from "Tango Nuevo Revisited", a contemporary reimagining of the Piazzolla/Mulligan classic album from 1975. "Four top-league jazz musicians who just enjoy playing". That description by the TV programme ZDF today Journal) defines exactly what "4WD" is all about. The four bandleaders involved are Nils Landgren, Mi-chael Wollny, Lars Danielsson and Wolfgang Haffner). Each of them is in equal control and they all set the direction of the group. "Flamenco and jazz are brothers," says Spanish piano newcomer Daniel García. In his energetic trio with special guest Jorge Pardo, he shows just how true that statement is with the fiery "Travesuras". French accordionist Vincent Peirani and his wife Serena Fisseau then create a familiar musical refuge: "What A Wonderful World" is a paean to silence. A duo of newcomers to the label, Grégoire Maret and Edmar Castaneda create new and exciting sound worlds. In "Harp vs. Harp" harmonica meets harp. This is indeed a special and rare pairing; "Blueserinho" absolutely needs to be heard. With his "Italian Songbook" trumpeter Luca Aquino has recorded a homage to the music of his homeland. Here is "Scalinatella" by film composer Giuseppe Cioffi in an affecting version for trio with the Italian piano star Danilo Rea and accordionist Natalino Marchetti. Singer Cæcilie Norby unites musicians from several generations and countries on "Sisters in Jazz". Her composition "Naked In The Dark" demonstrates that jazz is far from being only about men. "Klinken" comes from the debut album "Stax" by the 25-year-old drummer Max Stadtfeld, a release in the Young German Jazz series. Stadtfeld and his comrades-in-arms have no truck with intellectuality, they move in the rhythm-oriented mainstream and yet point beyond it. With freshness and astonishing maturity this quartet thrills and excites. For over 10 years the successful trio Mare Nostrum with Paolo Fresu, Richard Galliano and Jan Lundgren has been the epitome of the sound of Europe. All three musi-cians have a quite fabulous sense of the lyrical and poetic which is again very much to the fore in their third album; Magic Moments 12 has the Swedish "Ronneby". As the magazine Galore writes of German jazz icon Joachim Kühn. “He interprets Ornette Coleman's music in his very own way: lyrically, gently and introvertedly, but full of surprising details." Kühn relives the unique story of his work alongside one of the legends of jazz here with "Lost Thoughts", a piece never recorded before. On 6 February 2019, jazz baroness Pannonica (Nica) de Koenigswarter (1913-1988) received a posthumous tribute for her tireless commitment to jazz in a concert at the Philharmonie in Berlin. The focus was on pieces by musicians whom Pannonica had supported over so many years with money, accommodation, advice and friendship, and who often dedicated compositions to her in gratitude, "Little Butterly" by Thelonious Monk for example. The New York singer Charenée Wade is in the limelight here, accompanied by Iiro Rantala, Dan Berglund and Anton Eger, with the American saxophone titan Ernie Watts. "An Israeli power trio. Heavy Jazz," Rolling Stone wrote of Shalosh. And when you hear the frenzied "After The War" it is obvious why: rock and indie jazz combine to form a mix which is full of tension and excitement. Violinist Adam Baldych is a supremely talented virtuoso. Stereo Magazine has described him as "one of the most technically brilliant interpreters of improvised music". "Longing" from his album "Sacrum Profanum" is a searingly sad ballad, sensitively interpreted in a duo with pianist Krzysztof Dys. On "Painted Music" the pianist Carsten Dahl gives his own highly personal take on classics of the jazz repertoire. The traditional Danish folk song "Jeg gik mig ud en sommerdag" (I went out on a summer’s day) is the sound of summer. At the end of “Magic Moments 12”, Nguyên Lê's piece "Hippocampus" reminds us of "One World Of Music", the theme of the compilation. The French guitarist of Vietnamese ancestry is a musical wayfarer between cultures who combines the freedom of jazz with influences from rock and world music.Credits: Compilation by Siggi Loch Mastered by Klaus Scheuermann

Shalosh - Onwards and UpwardsCD / Vinyl / digital Gadi Stern piano, rhodes & micro korg David Michaeli double bass Matan Assayag drums SHALOSH. It means ‘three’ in Hebrew. It is the name of a piano trio but also denotes a lot more than that. For the three Israeli musicians, pianist Gadi Stern, bassist David Michaeli and drummer Matan Assayag, SHALOSH is more than just a band, it is a lifetime's project. Or as Stern puts it, "SHALOSH is not just a band, it's an idea." SHALOSH doesn't have a leader, and all its music is conceived of collectively. For all three members, this is their most personal and important project. And they know each other well, not just as musicians, but also in life: Stern and Assayag are friends from childhood with a shared history that began in Jerusalem, where they first started to be talked about as members of the band ‘Enoma Elish’. They founded SHALOSH in 2014, looked for a bass player, and Michaeli joined them – he was still a teenager at the time. Since then, the three have been inseparable: they have all shifted their base to Tel Aviv where they live in the same neighbourhood and meet up almost daily. SHALOSH almost gets to feel like family. That intense connection is what has led SHALOSH to its own distinct musical vision, and to the kind of music that is only possible when three young guys have been writing songs together since the age of 16. SHALOSH are fans of Nirvana, Brahms and The Bad Plus, and transcend all style barriers. As children of the 90s, they have assimilated the pop and rock music of that decade. The loudness of rock and the danceability of electronica are paired with the sensitivity and structural awareness of trained jazz musicians - not to mention influences from classical music and the Middle East. SHALOSH make music with the fiery impetuousness typical of men in their mid-twenties. Their songs build in intensity and tension, with the undertow of a sea that surges and roars, but which can also fall still and luxuriate in its own contemplative beauty."Onwards and Upwards" starts with a bang: "After The War" is a deeply emotional song which is also highly topical. As Gadi Stern notes: "The song describes the condition of a country at war. The beginning is creepy, portraying self-serving political leaders who act in a totally unscrupulous and manipulative way. The mood turns explosive as war breaks out. We witness the cruelty of war, and then its melancholic aftermath, as people realize what misery they have endured and how pointless it has all been. As Israelis, SHALOSH know exactly what they are talking about. But the piece is not fundamentally pessimistic; the three carry the hope that our civilization will change for the better: "We have not called the piece "Before the War" but "After the War.""Tune For Mr. Ahmad Jamal" is a homage to one of the greats of jazz piano. In this piece with its swing feel, we might appear to have landed somewhere outside the scope of the album, because the SHALOSH sound is so far removed from that of a traditional jazz piano trio. "But Jamal's trio influenced us a lot and we really wanted to pay him respect. The piece is very playful and has an optimistic vibe. That's exactly what we associate with Jamal's music." Another reminiscence is "Children of the 90´s": Stern, Michaeli and Assayag become nostalgic as they remember the soundtrack of their youth, and transfer a particular sound and an attitude towards life from those times into the SHALOSH universe. Finally, "Onwards and Upwards" has two covers: A-ha’s "Take on Me", plus "You´ll Never Walk Alone" from the 1940s Broadway musical "Carousel". This song, best known as a football anthem, takes on a completely different guise in the trio’s rocky, breakbeat-like instrumental version. SHALOSH's music reflects the band's home city of Tel Aviv: it is colourful and tolerant, but it is impetuous as well. There are boundaries to be tested, there is exuberance to be celebrated, but in the meantime the calming sea is ever-present. "Onwards and Upwards" conveys this sense of vitality through the real lives of three young men in Israel. It is an album which expresses joy in a postmodern way. It constitutes a statement that life goes on and that the world we live in does too. And that the same – naturally - is true of music. Or as Gadi Stern says: "We don't rest on our laurels, but want to experience new musical adventures with SHALOSH again and again".Credits: Recorded by Michael Dahlvid at Nilento Studio, Gothenburg (Sweden), October 31 to November 2, 2018 Mixed and mastered by Lars NilssonChoir on Onwards And Upwards recorded by Kobi Farhi at Mitzlol Studios, Tel Aviv (Israel), November 19, 2018 Music composed, arranged and produced by SHALOSH, except otherwise noted