Also top-drawer is Songs Of The Metropolis (****World Village) by GILAD ATZMON & THE
ORIENT HOUSE ENSEMBLE.
Together with his superbly intuitive band, the well-travelled, hard-gigging Atzmon – an Israeli-born multireedsman who seamlessly marries bop with Middle Eastern music – has etched nine vividly evocative portraits of cities and towns, ranging from Manhattan and Buenos Aires to… Scarborough. Whether he’s blowing up a storm of notes or gently caressing a ballad, there’s a luminous vitality at the heart of Atzmon’s playing that’s irresistible to the ear.
