Gilad Atzmon & The Orient House Ensemble
The Tide Has Changed
(World Village)
****
After 10 years in Britain, Gilad Atzmon is mellowing. The dissident Israeli saxman and ex-soldier who named his group after Palestine's Jerusalem HQ conveys more harmony than protest here. Soulful soprano-sax rules. On London to Gaza, new drummer Eddie Hick spurs Frank Harrison's piano to Keith Jarrett-like heights and Atzmon to clarinet and accordion, although his mission statement — “the melody is the truth, humanism is a metaphor, consciousness is the devil and amnesia is freedom. The tide has changed and so have we” — defies morning-after analysis.
JACK MASSARIK