NL ->

TRACKLIST

1. Lailadance [0:05:41.46]
2. Impresiones [0:06:41.55]
3. Cadiz [0:09:34.50]
4. Next One Rising [0:06:46.27]
5. Rumba Judia [0:03:38.55]
6. Prayer [0:04:21.49]
7. Colaboracion [0:08:34.68]
8. Freylekhs Tumbao [0:04:38.51]

Review:
At first, the distance between these 2 traditions - the Latin and the Hassidic - strikes you as being as cavernous as the central dome of Ottawa's Dominion-Chalmers United Church, where trumpeter Dave Buchbinder and pianist Hilario Duran appeared together Monday night.

In mere seconds, however, as soon as Buchbinder injects a few of his klezmer-tinged trumpet flourishes into the mellow conga beat of the evening's first composition, you are unequivocally convinced. What follows are two sets confirming your newly instilled belief - maybe not sweeping you off your feet on a seamless musical wave (though the band came close a few times,) but impressing nonetheless with taste, intellect, and sufficient spurts of individual virtuosity.

The compositions - some by Buchbinder, some Duran - don't all work; at times, the weave suffers from loose stitching or the sin of hasty adornments. But some are spot on, winding their way through ghettos and barrios alike, striking a perfect balance of color, tone and variety. These were the tunes, usually set enders, that created an infectious communal groove, allowing each musician to shed the conceptual cocoon that was the order of the day and to swing, unburdened, as one.

The best of these, predictably, was Collaboracione, the only tune on which Buchbinder and Duran share equal credit. The composition, the centrepiece of the ensemble's first set, was the truest revelation of he many qualities these two men share: malleable tempos, mechanical integrity, and a natural disposition for showing off.

It takes a rather brainy bunch to play this kind of high-minded exercise, and a more bookish brood you couldn't find in all of contemporary jazz. Led by Buchbinder, who, with this wavy locks and even-tempered disposition suggests a mad professor on mood medication, the ensemble also features idiosyncratic sax man Qunisin Nachoff, with his love of rapid fire abstraction, bassist Roberto Occhipinti, who brings a steely, guitar like sound to the mix, violinist Aleksander Gajic, the band's token soul barer, and of course Duran, whose driving delicateness was on display only in small measures, content to leave the spotlight on the compositions.

If an ingredient remains missing, however, it is only - to quote an age old adage that has forged many a musician - practice, practice, practice. One hopes that Odessa-Havana is not just a musical conceit du jour that the versatile Buchbinder will soon be abandoning in favor of the next compositional kick. For it is only familiarity with the material that this ensemble lacks in order to create a truly uniform and uplifting experience.

SPOILER (LOG)