Recording of the Week, Uriel Herman - Different Eyes

For the Israeli musician Uriel Herman, jazz serves as the perfect means of expression in which to capture the indescribable world of music and the emotions it carries: “Music is the art of time…It takes place within time…It must change and be dynamic,” the pianist once remarked. Aiming to bring a message of love through the mutual practices of listening and caring, his new album, Different Eyes, comes as a fine example of a musician translating their experience into sound.

This is no struggle for Herman, the kind of player who subsides obvious choices in favour of more carefully nuanced gestures. Growing up in a musical environment where the sound of the piano was never far away, the pianist cites his experience of hearing Beethoven’s 7th Symphony as the pivotal juncture that sparked his love affair with music – a universal moment which, in any case, inspires listeners to reach inside themselves for the first time as they begin to entertain the honest combination of intellect and the soul. There is indeed a classical-inspired thread that weaves its way throughout this recording, as expressed in the evident title and opening bars of ‘Fantasy’, a reworking of J.S. Bach’s Chromatic Fantasia, as well as his ‘Homage to Chopin’. More implicitly, however, it is felt in the artist’s touch, how he reacts to sound and tenderly recognises his own part in its creation.

As robust as any great storyteller, Herman has stated that the development of compositional style is closely linked to his growing self-awareness in life and the search that forms one’s own self-actualisation. Gently evoking the delicacy of Bill Evans as he reaches for inner truth, Different Eyes reveals the alternating aesthetically-constructed worlds that inspire him, their colours and dissonances in accordance. Inspired by fragments of his childhood memories, the opening track ‘Jerusalem’ allows us to embark on this journey that begins in the streets of Herman’s youth. Solemnly recollecting a wide variety of moods from sublime tranquillity to resolute intensity, the pianist’s handling of inspired musical selections – whether that’s ‘Nature Boy’ or Nirvana – comes as a fine demonstration of the global landscape across which he is able to transport us. Further credit must be given to trumpeter Itamar Borochov; by no means a humble sideman in this affair, his satiny tones comprise a vital component of the adventure. So too should praise be extended to flautist Uriel Weinberger, whose nimble dexterity only serves to compliment the depth of the recording.

Herman’s ability to soak up influences, musical or otherwise, and recast them in a spectacular forgery of wonder calls to mind the work of his compatriot, Shai Maestro – a fellow pianist whose similar openness and susceptibility to subtle change cements him as perhaps one of the most meditative cats on the bandstand today. Likewise, all throughout Different Eyes can listeners expect to encounter the bandleader’s undoubtable mindfulness, as he lovingly reflects with an honest sense of maturity a light which most players can only dream of glimpsing.