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Nitai Hershkovits

Call on the Old Wise is Nitai Hershkovits’ first record for ECM, presenting his powerful pianistic ingenuity in a largely improvised solo setting. Nitai’s improvisations unfold like compositions being created in real-time: “It’s like I’m playing with several periods of music at once, but in a sort of augmented-reality-environment,” states Nitai. “To me the album is like a journey taking you through multiple varying experiences in the blink of an eye. Like jumping through frames holding different pictures or looking through windows to different worlds.” Call on the Old Wise follows Isabela and Here Be Dragons, where Nitai has been heard as a member of Oded Tzur’s quartet.

The album is partially dedicated to Nitai’s former piano teacher Suzan Cohen, with whom he studied in Jerusalem and who according to Nitai is the mentor to whom the term ‘wise’ in the record’s title alludes. The pieces “The Old Wise”, “Of Mentorship” and “For Suzan” refer directly to her. But Nitai draws from wide-reaching influences, ranging from his work in jazz contexts and cutting-edge contemporary explorations to his background in classical music. This immaculate balance of idioms gives rise to an abundance of colours and timbres, explored by a pianist, who has successfully forged his very own voice as improviser and shape-designer.

In his approach to improvisation, he notes, shapes and textures set the direction for the development of material: “I don’t want to be confined to any specific key or time signature, but rather leave the freedom to continually re-evaluate things in real-time and see them from a new perspective over and over again. That’s also why I tried to go into the session with as few preconceived ideas as possible.” In light of this spontaneous sense of creation, it is striking how completely formed many of the miniaturesque designs on the album unfurl. Nitai mentions inspirations as seemingly disparate as Chick Corea and Russian composers Rachmaninoff and Scriabin guiding him in the process. 

Recorded at the Auditorio Stelio Molo in Lugano in 2022, the specific acoustic properties of the studio too play into the fabric of Nitai’s musical developments, as did his exchanges with producer Manfred Eicher. Nitai: “In the studio very few words are spoken. With Manfred, it’s like there’s another musician in the room, reflecting, reacting and reshaping the music in the moment.” Call on the Old Wise is a testimony to Nitai Hershkovits’s unique inventiveness as well as an essential addition to ECM’s celebrated line of solo piano recordings.

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Radio & Podcasts

Nitai Hershkovits, Micah Thomas, Koma Saxo, Dexter Goldberg & More

Read "Nitai Hershkovits, Micah Thomas, Koma Saxo, Dexter Goldberg & More" reviewed by Ludovico Granvassu


This episode is mostly dedicated to the proposition that piano jazz has a beautiful future ahead, if we have to judge it by what emerging pianists like Micah Thomas, Nitai Hershkovits, Dexter Goldberg, Joona Toivanen or Fergus McCreadie are putting on record. Before and after this piano segment, a few more thrilling new albums.Happy listening!Playlist Ben Allison “Mondo Jazz Theme (feat. Ted Nash & Pyeng Threadgill)" 0:00 Koma Saxo “Komma Hem" Post Koma (We Jazz) 0:16 ...

Album Review

Oded Tzur: Isabela

Read "Isabela" reviewed by Mario Calvitti


A due anni di distanza dall'eccellente disco di esordio su ECM Here Be Dragons, preceduto da due CD pubblicati per Enja, che aveva sollevato lodi sperticate da parte di un po' tutta la critica, il sassofonista israeliano (ma basato a New York) Oded Tzur prova a bissarne il successo e non fallisce. Il nuovo lavoro ribadisce in pieno l'ottima impressione suscitata dall'album precedente e conferma il sassofonista come uno dei più interessanti tra gli astri nascenti del nuovo jazz internazionale. ...

10
Album Review

Oded Tzur: Isabela

Read "Isabela" reviewed by David Bruggink


Saxophonist Oded Tzur burst onto the jazz scene in 2012 with a remarkable approach to his instrument that drew upon his studies with Hariprasad Chaurasia, a master of Hindustani Classical music. Joining pianist Shai Maestro, bassist Petros Klampanis, and drummer Ziv Ravitz, he formed a New York-based quartet that began performing locally and ultimately released a debut album, Like a Great River (Yellowbird), in 2015. On that thrilling recording, the wider world was exposed to Tzur's unique mélange of Indian ragas, ...

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Album Review

Oded Tzur: Isabela

Read "Isabela" reviewed by Chris May


Oded Tzur's 2020 album, Here Be Dragons, the Israeli-born, New York-based tenor saxophonist's first release on ECM, triggered an eruption of purple prose. Critics competed to see who could convey the most enthusiasm. A few even suggested that the Tzur quartet was the inheritor of the mantle of John Coltrane's classic quartet. That might have been over the top, and was certainly premature--Here Be Dragons was only Tzur's third album in a recording career which had begun as recently as ...

5
Album Review

Time Grove: More Than One Thing

Read "More Than One Thing" reviewed by Gareth Thompson


The titling of instrumental pieces might take any number of courses. Musicians can make them super deep, or use super obscure references. Dedications to a specific place or person are common, as is the use of instruments or genres. Many titles are just left open to the listener's interpretation. Tel Aviv band Time Grove offers all the above options on their debut record More Than One Thing. Based around the work of acclaimed pianist Nitai Hershkovits, the group ...

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The Pianist’s solo playing stands out from the majority of his colleagues. — Werner Boots, Rondo (DE) *****

Hershkovits hits so many high points that the anticipation for the next album is already bubbling up. — Konstantin N. Rega, Spectrum Culture

Captivating, refreshing, intoxicating, and very groovy. Bursting with colors and timbres, this album by Nitai Hershkovits is a pure delight. — Yvan Duvivier, Ouest France (FR)

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Photos

Concerts

Music

Recordings: As Leader | As Sideperson

Isabela

ECM Records
2022

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More Than One Thing

Wah Wah 45s
2018

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From Darkness

Razdaz Recordz
2015

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The Old Wise

From: Call on the Old Wise
By Nitai Hershkovits

Videos

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