Skipping with Maestro
This year’s Pianos Festival, at the Jerusalem Theater, offers an eclectic range of entertainment from December 20 to December 23. As always there are plenty in the way of classical, and classically-informed, works on offer, while 30-year-old pianist Shai Maestro will bring some inventive jazzy fare to the fray, with his trio of Peruvian-born bassist Jorge Roeder and Israeli drummer Ziv Ravitz.
After serving a lengthy tenure with stellar Israeli bassman Avishai Cohen, New Yorkbased Maestro struck out on his own in 2010, forming a fruitful threesome with Roeder and Ravitz. In the intervening seven-plus years, the band has done the rounds of the global jazz circuit and put out four albums in the process. The most recent release, The Stone Skipper, came out last year and Maestro et al will present the record’s expansive palette in a midnight slot on Wednesday.
As with all Maestro’s work, The Stone Skipper is a carefully crafted affair. The pianist is a fundamentally lyrical player and, as you’d expect, his melodies are strong throughout. However, as will no doubt be evident tonight, Maestro has stretched the cultural and stylistic domains, taking in Yemenite-inflected material, freer-flowing ideas, a smidgeon of electronica and other areas of artistic endeavor.
For tickets and more information: (02) 5605757 and www.jerusalem-theatre.co.il/piano2. aspx.