Reviews
Elana Sasson Album: In Between
Label: PKMusik
Tracks: 9
Website: https://elana-sasson.bandcamp.com/
Elana Sasson's IN BETWEEN is a truly liminal album, like the overlap in a complex Venn diagram it sits delightfully between, shimmering piano jazz, Persian poetry and Kurdish mountain songs with some exciting extra flavours. This album was written in Valencia ( Elana met many of the featured musicians at Berklee College of Music's Valencia Campus), recorded in Madrid and released on PKMusik, the incredible Greek bassist Petros Klampanis' label. A complex set of overlaps and geographical and musical connections, conceived and recorded where Europe and North Africa touch it works perfectly. What Songlines magazine describes as Sasson's 'arrestingly beautiful' voice may be the central glue in this beguiling musical mist, but there is so much more going on. Indeed the first sounds you hear on album opener "Akh Leil" are impeccable bass and piano. Elana's singing of this song of lost childhood and the cello and piano are solos over the flowing music. "Bahari Digar" draws beauty from Elana's Kate Bush like vocals and guest Kaveh Savarian's evocative breathy Ney. Santiago Bertel's fine jazzy piano plays a more central role on "Ay Ke Buena", dancing with Sasson's voice and Savarian's Tombak and Victor Goldschmidt's percussion.
"Nerges" a Quartet arrangement of anonymous Kurdish poetry starts with a vocal and ney duet that contrasts with the more tempered chamber jazz of the song. On "Nerges" the quartet stretches out a little with some shimmering ney and piano jazz between Elana's singing of the verses. Similarly "Elaneven" opens with a very ECM interlude where Elana improvises wordlessly on the melody, duetting with Bertel's piano and Miron Rafajilovic's wonderfully breathy trumpet. Before letting the band just swing gently. The title track continues Elana singing the melody, as her layered voice duets with Santiago's piano. One of my favourite tracks is the hypnotic "Laye Laye" with Manos Stratis' richly resonant double bass and Matthieu Saglio's stunning cello building a hypnotic folky ambience. The album booklet gives you the translation of this charming Kurdish lullaby. "Hevi" is an austere Scandinavian feeling late night jazz piece, a poem about the falling snow by Arjem Ari. The band gently shimmers about Elana sings longingly about the hope that spring brings.
IN BETWEEN delivers impeccable atmospheric mood music. In the sleeve credits Elana, refers to the players as The Elana Sasson Quartet. This is not a band and a singer, it is a ensemble sound where solo instruments are added, where Sasson can sing stories or deliver a melody like an understated instrument. There are no big egos, none of the players bandstand there is a beautiful collective restraint as Elana and the other musicians knit together traditional and modern.
Marc Higgins
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