All that jazz – in Tel Aviv

American guitarist Josh Breakstone is just one of the many artists taking part in the latest Opera House Jazz series.

By BARRY DAVIS
Stefano Bollani 311 (photo credit: Courtesy of stefanobollani.com)
Stefano Bollani 311
(photo credit: Courtesy of stefanobollani.com)
The 2011-12 Opera House Jazz series kicks off on December 2 with a tribute to some of the iconic guitarists and pianists of yesteryear. The concert features Jewish American guitarist Josh Breakstone and Italian pianist Tony Pancella, who will perform works made famous by two renowned guitar-piano duos – Wes Montgomery and Wynton Kelly, and Grant Green and Sonny Clark.
The February slot of the series will be fronted by 69- year-old US pianist Kenny Barron, who performed at the inaugural 2011 Red Sea Winter Jazz Festival. Barron’s sidemen for the occasion are Japanese bassist Kyoshi Kitagawa and American drummer Jonathan Blake. The March concert sees the return of Italian pianist Stefano Bollani, who joins forces with two Israelis – saxophonist-clarinetist Anat Cohen and pianist Omri Mor. In the first part of the show Bollani and Cohen will play a program of Brazilian, Italian and Israeli numbers, as well as some original material. Mor will then join Bollani in some jazz standards and original tunes.
The April 20 concert is an all-Italian affair, with young pianist Mirko Signole and Signole’s former teacher, reedman Roberto Ottaviano.
The first part of the show will feature Signole in a solo piano program of jazz standards, original numbers and jazz interpretations of Israeli Songbook items, such as Sasha Argov’s “Kesha’or Dolek” and “Shir Leloh Shem” by Shalom Hanoch. Ottaviano will join Signole in the second half.
The series closes on June 1 with the Mimehuma Letekuma (Order to Chaos) concert, with a star-studded international quintet including Germany-based Israeli pianist Omer Klein, Jewish American saxophonist Marty Erlich and trumpeter Ralph Alessi. The first part of the concert will include new arrangements of Israeli classics by Klein and the second half will feature a screening of Ana Isabel Ordonez’s Order to Chaos documentary about a Holocaust survivor, and the band will play a suite of three tunes written by Klein, Erlich and Alessi.
For more information and tickets: www.israel-opera.co.il and 03-6927777