GA: This following is one of the most flattering reviews of my work as a writer, educator and a thinker. It probably explains why people are interested in my work, however,  it certainly explains why my detractors are in a state of constant tantrum…

By Jeff Merrifield

When we sat in the Mareel and heard Tim Garland’s Lighthouse Trio there was a general understanding that this was the pinnacle of performance, a truly enlightening experience, and we thought we would never see the like of it again. Just one month later, sitting in the Town Hall, Gilad Atzmon’s Orient House ensemble once more blew our minds and took us to heights of unimaginable musical rapture. However, there was an added ingredient here – entertainment. Gilad is a master showman with a hyperactive personality and knows very well how to give an audience a good time as well as musical thrills.

       The group were playing tunes from their latest album Songs of the Metropolis on the World Village record label. Atzmon is renowned for his virtuoso, high-speed, post-bop attack. This concept album explores more sober alternative territory, where nearly every song is a ballad and even the occasionally faster-paced tunes emit an aura of relative calm. Atzmon’s concept is to dedicate his pieces to individual cities, conjuring an atmosphere evocative of the essential flavour of these various places. Here we begin in Paris, with Atzmon putting down his sax in favour of a new interest in the accordion and he elicits a truly Parisian sound. Although he has long resided in London, that’s one of the obvious cities missing from this repertoire. He skirts from Berlin to Buenos Aires to Tel Aviv, and from Scarborough to ‘Somewhere in Italy’.