LP Review: Shalosh - Onwards and Upwards (2019)
"Onwards and Upwards" is the third full-length release by Tel Aviv's finest piano Jazz trio Shalosh. The three musicians who named themselves after the Hebrew word for "three" stands for collective, virtuous, and intelligent global Jazz. Founded in 2013, the band might be famous amongst a Western audience since their second LP "Rules of Oppression". Also the sympathetic trio is constantly on tour, and plays concerts and festivals in the Americas, Europe, the Middle East, and Asia.
Only a year after their first live LP, Shalosh went back to the studio to press some polished recordings of their newest songs on vinyl. The outcome is a fantastic piece of art. "Onwards and Upwards" is by far the strongest and most intense album Shalosh have produced so far. Calm passages wave over into fast but warm melodies, and even within the craziest climax the trio never loses their harmonic cool.
Gadi, David and Matan present ten new songs with a playtime of over an hour. Their tracks are full of joy, lean-back moments, reflection, progression, and a beautiful hommage to Jazz and music in general. Their great arrangements prove that Shalosh is a trio without a leader, but with a collective sense of synergy via music. Piano, doublebass, and drums never stagnate on one position, but change between front and back, centre and margin, melody and rhythm.
On their third album "Onwards and Upwards" Shalosh give us a threefold hommage to music itself. You might realize there's a lot of threes (Shalosh, trio, third album, threefold hommage), but anyways...
"Onwards and Upwards" features two cover songs, Richard Rodgers' "You'll never walk alone" sounds beautiful in Shalosh's Jazz version, and so does a-ha's hit "Take on me". It is amazing how a famouus song can be dissected, rearranged, and finally become so awesome. The third song I wanted to mention here though, is my favourite track on Shalosh's "Onwards and Upwards: "Tune for Mr. Ahmad Jamal" is a track dedicated to America's often forgotten Jazz legend Frederick Russell Jones. Jamal is the musician who inspired Miles Davis, and who knows what contemporary Jazz would be like without their impact. A beautiful and honest hommage to a legend.
As I said before, "Onwards and Upwards" is the greatest and most varied album Shalosh have record so far. It is beautiful to watch how the three musicians grow by every year, and develop even further with every new output. My recommendation therefore is, check their tour dates, visit their concerts. You won't regret.
"Onwards and Upwards" features two cover songs, Richard Rodgers' "You'll never walk alone" sounds beautiful in Shalosh's Jazz version, and so does a-ha's hit "Take on me". It is amazing how a famouus song can be dissected, rearranged, and finally become so awesome. The third song I wanted to mention here though, is my favourite track on Shalosh's "Onwards and Upwards: "Tune for Mr. Ahmad Jamal" is a track dedicated to America's often forgotten Jazz legend Frederick Russell Jones. Jamal is the musician who inspired Miles Davis, and who knows what contemporary Jazz would be like without their impact. A beautiful and honest hommage to a legend.
As I said before, "Onwards and Upwards" is the greatest and most varied album Shalosh have record so far. It is beautiful to watch how the three musicians grow by every year, and develop even further with every new output. My recommendation therefore is, check their tour dates, visit their concerts. You won't regret.
Comments
Post a Comment