Israeli jazz guitarist Gilad Hekselman’s new album, Hearts Wide Open (Le Chant du Monde), is earning rave reviews from prominent critics. For example, writing in the New York Times last week, Ben Ratlif said that Hekselman “Â has become important over the last five years — if not yet to jazz listeners in general, at least to the serious-minded subculture of jazz-guitar students.”
Ratlif added that the young musician has “found a further refinement in his improvising: at places, among all the displays of study and practice, he’s able to detach from a song’s chord changes and the rhythm and play more freely, in a manner that suggests Paul Bley or Ornette Coleman… He’s on a good road, and he’s still moving.”
Perhaps the accessible and lyrical tunes on Hearts Wide Open will snare a wider audience for the talented guitarist. — Mordecai Specktor
