More On The Album

That Hagiga hails from the Middle East is simply unmissable. Farber hoists his conceptual flag, plain and simple, from the first splash of soaring sax on the opening cut on Dreams I Dream, which goes by the entirely fitting name of Cookies. In a word, Cookies really cooks, and sews the blues seeds deep into the fabric of the venture.

 

This record was clearly going to be about group founder, and only constant member since its founding almost a quarter of a century ago, reedman Alon Farber's story and how the music flows through him.

 

Israel has not only produced its fair share of top notch jazz musicians over the past three decades or so, the artists that come out of this corner of the world cover a multitude of referential bases and styles. Considering the myriad cultures and languages that make up the small melting pot at the convergence of three continents at the eastern end of the Mediterranean Sea, the ancient crossroads through which so many civilizations tramped and left their baggage over the millennia, that makes perfect evolutionary sense.

 

And while Farber may be the undisputed leader of the foursome all the members have their say in the way the sonic storyline wends its way out.

 

It is mightily impressive that Farber has managed to sustain the band's identity and layered polished sound despite the numerous personnel changes since its inception in 2001. He also seems to have a knack for cherry picking his pianists, with the supremely gifted Omri Mor and Tom Oren among the keyboardists in the Hagiga bio to date. On Mingus, bassist Asaf Hakimi – a longtime Farber sparring partner – opens with bluesy solo with a palpable sense of foreboding that suggests Mingus's powerful physical presence, and personality. Current ivory tickler Katia Toobool displays deftness of touch and finely honed sensibilities throughout, reeling off filigree arpeggios and sumptuous dense harmonics aplenty, as befitting the eponymous bassman-pianist. Meanwhile, Farber digs deep into luscious blues seams.

 

Toobool contributes one of the eight cuts on the record, An Old Friend, with the only other non-Farber number written by trombonist Oded Meir with whom Farber has shared many a stage and recording studio over the years.

 

As much as anything Dreams I Dream is an exercise in robust lyricism. This is a no-nonsense display of rich synergetic offerings that go for broke every time. Meir's 20 Years introduces a soupcon – albeit multiculturally rooted – of pan-Jewish circumspection to the proceedings. There is a whisper of a klezmer feel for a brief moment, before Toobool launches into a dramatic bluesy Andalusian-leaning foray. Thematic and rhythmic intent is the name of the game here. Meditative passages, subtle colorings, almost subliminal tension simmering before the cats build up a head of steam, abating and swelling up again before dissipating into filigree arpeggios and segueing into rich tones that leads us seamlessly back to a reprise of the opening Middle Eastern sax statement. Toobool oversees the evolving drama with aplomb throughout.

 

An Old Friend is a real cooker and serves as a marker for the quartet's nip-and-tuck understanding as they open at a gently lolling pace before moving up a couple of gears then seamlessly reining in the tempo. Drummer Yonatan Rosen anchors the whole show, underpinning the careening drives and putting in his 50 bucks' worth, with a flourish, betwixt and between.

 

Bassist Assaf Hakimi has been aboard the Hagiga train for some years now, and it shows, particularly on Mingus when he sets the jazz dive scene. You can almost feel the curling cigarette smoke cling to the notes before Farber cuts his way through blue-grey ethereal tendrils on sax.

 

And just in case we were in danger of slipping into blissful reverie brought on by the alluring mellifluous outpourings of the band Farber drops a curve ball with The Bartok Blues which veers off the straight and narrow melodic path into rockier less-paved tracts. Everyone is in for the tripping ride which exudes a sense of playfulness along with the compelling jagged edges.

 

Minorisem takes a look-see into Latinesque domains, with a rhumba-driven core, while Song for Einat is a delightful romantic bluesy number seasoned that should smooth even the most furrowed of brows

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Dreams I Dream is a powerhouse offering by a gifted songwriter and performer – and his likeminded accomplished pals - who is not afraid to let his hair down nor ply his own path through fields that have been plowed umpteen times over the decades and still, somehow, come up with own truth

Barry Davis, The Jerusalem Post 

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