Atzmon's performances blend strong writing and awesome instrumental technique with a high degree of professionalism, all this leavened by a healthy dose of humour. 

Gilad Atzmon & The Orient House Ensemble,  Arena Theatre, Wolverhampton, 07/12/2013.

In January 2013 Gilad Atzmon released “Songs Of The Metropolis”, the latest album featuring his regular working band the Orient House Ensemble. Each track is dedicated to a different location, in the main the great cities of the world, but there are paeans to more modest settlements too. In many respects it’s Atzmon’s most mature album to date, stylistically diverse and less directly confrontational and overtly political than some of its predecessors. Instead it’s more of a celebration of the lifestyle of the globe trotting professional musician as Atzmon explains
“every night I fall asleep in a different town and most towns have their own colour, their own sound, their own song”.

I reviewed the album back in January 2013 and also reported on an excellent live show that took place at Black Mountain Jazz in Abergavenny, just one of a string of dates that formed part of an extensive tour that not only promoted the album but also celebrated Gilad’s fiftieth birthday and the twentieth anniversary of his arrival in the UK from his native Israel.  More recently in 2013 Atzmon has been busy with a host of other projects and collaborations including playing on and producing Blockheads bassist Norman Watt Roy’s début solo album “Faith And Grace”.