The evocative melody played on oud (Middle Eastern lute) that kicks off “Pyramid,” the first track on Uri Gurvich’s sensational new album, BabEl (Tzadik), keys one source of the musical mélange on display. The Israeli composer and saxophonist gathered a cast of accomplished musicians from Cuba, Argentina, Morocco and Bulgaria for his second album. “Scalerica de Oro,” a traditional Sephardic song whose Ladino title translates as “A Ladder of Gold,” draws on Gurvich’s Israeli and Argentinean ancestry. It concludes with an ensemble vocal and a hearty shout of “Mazal tov!” With BabEl, Gurvich takes a prominent place among the cohort of Israeli musicians who are extending and enriching the great American jazz idiom. — M.S.
(American Jewish World, 6.21.13)
