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Twin Song from Avi Rothbard |
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Written by Don Berryman
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Thursday, 16 February 2006 |
Twin Song on Midlantic records
from guitarist Avi Rothbard presents solid hard-bop/soul-jazz in
standard organ-trio configuration. With updated harmonies this still
echoes back to a time the country was dotted with clubs that had
Hammond organs (when guitarists like George
Benson, Kenny Burrell and Grant Green toured with Jimmy Smith, Jack
McDuff and Dr. Lonnie Smith). Rothbard's Twin Song swings with 9 mostly
upbeat, original compositions. Twin
Song features the musicianship of Avi Rothbard on guitar,
Jared Gold on Hammond B3 Organ, and Joe Strasser on drums. Wayne
Escoffery makes a guest appearance on Tenor Sax.
Rothbard has developed a style firmly rooted within the American jazz guitar
mainstream. One can hear the influences of Wes Montgomery filtered
through Joe Pass, Grant Green and George Benson in his playing.
Twin Song is clearly a
showcase for Rothbard's considerable talent (both as a guitarist and
composer), but this group is a performs as a cohesive unit and each
musician is given opportunities to shine on this album. Organist Jared
Gold has the chops and evokes the late great Larry Young with his great
post-bop harmonies and voicings. Joe Srtasser swinging as ever and Wayne Escoffery provides some
stunning solos on Tenor.
 Avi Rothbard
Avi Rothbard was born in
Kibbutz Gan Shmuel, Israel. Before picking up the guitar,
Avi played bass guitar, mandolin and percussion. His first
professional gig was at the age of 17. Following service, Avi begun
pressuring a career as a Jazz Guitarist / Bassist and also as Music
instructor. Following 2 years at The Rubin Academy, Avi was in high
demand as a side man with various local jazz bands, some of the
highlights of that period were performances at "The Red Sea Festival",
Haifa Film Festival and "Jazz and Films" in Tel Aviv.
In 1995, Avi received a scholarship from The Berklee College Of
Music. While attending college, Avi has won the Jimmy Hendrix
Award, William Leavitt Award and the Boston Jazz society
Competition. He also has been selected to play with the 1997 Monk
Institute Band at the Aspen Jazz Festival.
Since moving to New York in 1999, Avi Rothbard has established himself
as one of the most promising jazz guitarist to emerge in decades.
He has been featured on 9 CDs and has a Two CDs under his own name that
has been produced by the Midlantic Label. Avi has worked with
Mike Ledonne, Jeremy Pelt, Wayne Escoffery, Ali Jackson, Preacher
Robbins, Bob Moses, Mancy Berry and The Harlem Soul Quartet, Ted
Rosenthal, Andy McGhee, Grant Stewart, Cynthia Holyday, Vince Ector,
Joe Magnarelli, Donald Edwards, Herb Pomeroy, Von Freeman and John
Thomas.
As well as performing with his own
Quartet and Quintet, Wayne Escoffery currently
performs locally and tours internationally with Ben Riley's Monk Legacy
Septet, The Mingus Band, Abdullah Ibrahim's Akaya, The Carolyn Leonhart
Group, and two new groups put together by Jazz At Lincoln Center as a
part of their Music of the Masters Series. The Music of Dexter Gordon,
featuring the George Cables trio; and The Music of Miles Davis,
featuring Jimmy Cobb, Gary Bartz, and lead by Eddie Henderson. Wayne
can be heard on several recordings including The Mingus Band’s two most
recent CD's “Tonight at Noon” and "I Am Three"; Eric Reed’s “Happiness”
CD and Lonnie Plaxico’s "Rhythm and Soul" CD. Wayne’s debut CD as a
leader, “Times Change” was released in September 2001 on Nagel-Heyer
Records and his most recent CD "Intuition" was released in April of
2004, also on Nagel-Heyer Records.
To purchase Twin Songs. Visit
Avi Rothbard's website at www.rothbardmusic.com
or www.cdbaby.com/cd/rothbard.
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 Tuesday, 02 December 2008
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